Cover-Crop Technology for Soil Health Improvement, Land Degradation Neutrality, and Climate Change Adaptation

Abstract

Soil health improvement, land degradation neutrality, and climate change adaptation are critical sustainable issues in Indian agriculture. While soil health deterioration and land degradation are rapid in both irrigated and rainfed/ dryland ecosystems, climate change adaptation is more important under water stressed ecosystems. Rainfed ecosystems hold prominence globally as these occupy 80% of the world’s cultivable land and constitute a major share to the global food basket. Of the available agricultural land in Asia, rainfed areas account for about 83.4% of the land area compared to 16.6% of irrigated land. Rainfed/dryland ecosystems encounter numerous constraints viz., low and erratic rainfall, low moisture, degraded and poor resource base, soil fertility decline, low productivity, etc. These factors eventually lead to the over-exploitation of existing natural resources and hasten the speed of their degradation. Sustenance of soil health is one of the most significant tasks for enhancing the agricultural productivity, and adopting feasible technologies for maintaining it becomes critical. Monocropping is being practiced majorly in rainfed regions because of soil moisture being a constraint in these areas. The practice of introducing cover crops in fallows rather than leaving the land vegetation-free has a potential to provide multiple benefits viz. erosion and runoff control, biological fixation of N, higher utilization of applied N, enhanced soil productivity and fertility, weed suppression, reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, etc.