Conservation Agriculture: A Way for Soil Water Conservation Selvakumar S.*, Sivakumar K.1 Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India. 1Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India. *Corresponding Author: S. Selvakumar, Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: selva4647@gmail.com
Online published on 24 January, 2022. Abstract World population is going on increasing, it may be 2.4 billion by 2050, but stabilizing the yield of crop is questionable in Indian agriculture due to improper management o agricultural land. Excess tillage accelerate the organic matter oxidation present on th top soil, soil erosion and creates subsurface hard pan. This makes the field unsuitable for cultivation of crops in future. Climate change is worsening the situation by imposing water scarcity in India. So to evade these problems, conservation agriculture is th only way.Main objectives of conservation agriculture is reducing tillage, year round croppingcrop rotation, mulching may be live or residue. Due to reduced mechanical tillage, activity of micro flora and macro flora get increases that improves biological tillage of soil,that in turn improves soil structure and enhances the plant growth. Most of the studiesshowed that the cost of wheat production and CO2 emission from the field is reduced whenconservation agriculture was fallowed in rice-wheat cropping system. Crop rotation and alsomixed cropping improves soil fertility and also it reduces soil erosion. It can be a part of climate smart agriculture. It reduces greenhouse gas emission and also it can improve carbon sequestration. Considerably it can save 20-30% of water. Top Keywords Conservation agriculture, Effect on soil, Principles. Top |