Impacts of laser land levelling technology on yield, water productivity, soil health and profitability under arable cropping in alluvial soil of north Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

The crop productivity in Madhya Pradesh, India is very low as majority of the farmers are still practicing traditional farming techniques. The existing crop production technologies do not offer effective and efficient utilization of natural resources, particularly that of water. Moreover, a significant amount of irrigation water is wasted due to uneven fields and ditches. Unevenness of the soil surface also has a major impact on the germination, stand and yield of crops through nutrient water interaction and salt and soil moisture distribution pattern. Therefore, the water use efficiency along with yield per unit area could be increase by adopting resource conservation technologies like laser land levelling. Samples of 40 growers were selected from Morena district of Madhya Pradesh. Study results revealed that the laser levelled fields exhibited the saving in irrigation water with precision-conservation were 16.36, 14.54, 16.66 and 21.15 % compared to traditional levelling field and 27.27, 27.27, 31.66 and 47.11 % to unlevelled fields. The water-use efficiency was 38.09, 33.78, 46.75 and 50.23% higher in precisely levelled field than control (unlevelled) and 28.57, 20.94, 29.16 and 28.58 % higher than traditional levelling. The average crop productivity in rice, wheat, sugarcane and mustard has improved by 14.35, 10.83, 16.07 and 15.8 % on traditionally levelled fields. The average annual net income from the laser field was Rs. 90380, 72649, 69440 and 195275 ha-1 in rice, wheat, mustard and sugarcane higher than from the in comparison to control (unlevelled) fields. After harvest of third year crop compared to unlevelled and traditional levelling increased total soil carbon (TC), Total inorganic carbon (TIC), total soil organic carbon (SOC) 11.93 and 10.73 g kg-1 content was recorded at surface depth (0-15 cm). However, WSC, and MBC 27.8% and 35.1% in surface soil and 29.2% and 42.9% in sub surface soil content were recorded in laser levelled and unlevelled fields. Study concluded that adoption of laser land levelling technology helps in reducing the farm input costs, improve water use efficiency and enhance crop productivity.