Resource Conservation Technologies in Sustainable Crop Production: A Review
M. Suguna Devakumari *
School of Agricultural Sciences, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, India.
D. K. Paliwal
Department of Agronomy, RVSKVV, Gwalior, India.
Reshme Moirengjam
Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, India.
Payal Devi Chandrakar
Entomology, MGUVV, Durg, India.
Jai P. Rai
Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, RGSC, Barkachha, Mirzapur, U.P., India.
Rakesh Babu Gautam
A.N.D University of ag & Tech, Kumarganj, Ayodhya, U.P., India.
Anupama Pattanaik
QuantiVar, India.
Manoj Kumar Pandey
ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra (ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Manipur Centre), Village Pearsomun, Churachandpur, Manipur, India.
S. K. Goyal
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P., India.
Priti Jain
Department of Post Harvest Process and Food Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur, M.P., India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In modern times, traditional farming methods are unsustainable and negatively impact the environment. Environmental deterioration mostly manifests as nutrient depletion in many emerging nations, which lowers the capacity for food production. Resource conservation technologies (RCTs) adoption and resource efficiency are challenges. Conservation agriculture refers to cropping systems that boost biodiversity, maintain a permanent soil cover, minimize soil disturbance, diversify crop species, and promote natural biological processes both above and below the soil. The four guiding concepts of conservation agriculture are reducing mechanical soil disturbance and immediately planting tillled soil, which enhances soil health and organic matter content; utilizing crop waste and cover crops to increase soil organic matter. This protects the soil's surface, preserves water and nutrients, and encourages soil biological activity; crop diversification in associations, sequences, and rotations to improve system resilience, which in turn lowers tillage and retention by disrupting pest and disease cycles; and controlled traffic that loosens soil compaction. Reduced tillage, residue management, laser land leveling, site-specific nutrient management, and other techniques are examples of these RCTs. By reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, these technical elements also contribute significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In order to attain intensive and sustainable crop production in various agro-ecological situations, these new technologies must be adopted under a diversified cropping system.
Keywords: Resource conservation, precision agriculture, drip irrigation, no-till farming, integrated pest management and sustainability