Irrigation scheduling and crop establishment techniques in cluster bean-wheat sequence under semi-arid conditions of India - a review

Abstract

Conserving natural resource and maximizing factor productivity have been a great task to accomplish
sustainability of the production system in semi-arid regions. Legume-cereal based cropping system
plays a predominant role under changing climatic scenarios by conserving natural resources
sustainably. Off which, area under cluster bean and wheat crops is increasing over the years in the
parts of Haryana and Rajasthan. Farmers in these regions usually following conventional method
of cultivation, which leads to destroying the soil structure, high moisture loss and enhances soil
erosion, disrupt the cycle of beneficial microorganisms and reduced factor productivity. In such
situations, conservation tillage along with scheduled irrigation could leads to better establishment
of crops by conserving resources by increasing the factor productivity in the long run. Adoption of
bed planting technique could save 15-25% water in the cluster bean-wheat system through
improvement in water use efficiency by 15-22% and pulse yield by 18-35% and wheat yield by 10-
20%.