Potentials of Conservation Agriculture in Vertisols of Madhya Pradesh

The present study aimed to assess the potentials of conservation agriculture in Vertisols of Madhya Pradesh in terms of productivity and economics of cultivation in soybean-wheat cropping system. Vertisols are characterized by more clay content, swell-shrink behavior, high water holding capacity, poor drainage and creaking on drying which results in narrow workability and high erodibility causes soil and nutrients loses, whereas, high CEC and inter-layer spacing in minerals results in fixation of cationic nutrients and nature of self inversion causes low organic carbon content. Potential of different crop establishment method under soybean-wheat cropping system for nutrients recycling through crop residue management was also studied to highlight the importance of crop residue recycling. It is concluded that planting of soybean and wheat on permanent beds and with no-till along with retention of crop residue on surface has been more effective and remunerative.