Soil-site suitability evaluation for diversification of rice-wheat cropping system ecology in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India-A Case Study

Abstract

In the last few decades the sustainability of rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) has been threatened due to its negative effects on natural resources especially, soil and waters, and a declining trend in productivity was seen even in highly productive regions of Upper Indo-Genetic plains (UIGP) of IGP. Soil suitability evaluation, in this context, found to be the most effective tools for identifying suitable areas for a particular land use as well as for alternate land use options, and thus opens up the avenues for crop diversification in agriculture. The study reveals that the maximum area (52.2%) was highly suitable (S1) for sugarcane cultivation followed by pigeon pea (30.9%) whereas, potato (60.9%) and wheat (41.8%) were moderately suitable (S2). Moreover, soil suitability evaluation revealed that 77.2 and 60.9% area found marginally suitable (S3) for rice and mustard cultivation, respectively. Un-suitable area for cultivation ranged between 0.3-8.9%. The study paved the ways for identifying suitable areas for cultivation of other crops which can supplement, compliment and substitute any of the component crops in RWCS, if not completely than for certain time interval to recoup the soil health and sustain the productivity of rice-wheat system in this region.