ICAR-Directorate of Groundnut Research, RRS, Ananthapur, Andhra Pradesh, 515001, India.
Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 13;12(1):11955. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16049-x.
Environmental crises, declining factor productivity, and shrinking natural resource is a threat to global agricultural sustainability. The task is much more daunting in the Indo-Gangetic northern plains of India, where depletion of the underground water table and erratic rains due to the changing climate pose a major challenge to agriculture. To address these challenges a field investigation was carried out during 2016-2018 to test the efficacy of biopolymeric superabsorbent hydrogels namely Pusa Hydrogel (P-hydrogel: a semi-synthetic cellulose derivative-based product) and kaolin derivative of Pusa Hydrogel (K-hydrogel: semi-synthetic cellulose derivative) to assess their effect on crop and water productivity, soil moisture, root dynamics, and economics of soybean (Glycine max L.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) system under three irrigation regimes namely full irrigation, limited irrigation and rainfed. The results revealed that the full irrigation along with P-hydrogel led to enhanced grain yield, biomass yield, and water productivity (WP) of soybean (1.61-10.5%, 2.2-9.5%, and 2.15-21.8%, respectively) and wheat (11.1-18.3%, 12-54% and 11.1-13.1%, respectively) over control plots. Likewise, under water stressed plots of rainfed conditions with P-hydrogel exhibited 52.7 and 20.6% higher system yields (in terms of wheat equivalent yield) over control and other combinations during the respective study years. Whereas the magnitude of increase in system yield under limited irrigation with P-hydrogel was ~ 15.1% and under full irrigation with P-hydrogel was 8.0-19.4%. Plots treated with P-hydrogel retained 3.0-5.0% higher soil moisture compared to no-hydrogel plots, while K-hydrogel treated plots held the lower moisture (4.0-6.0%) than the control. In terms of profitability, full irrigation along with P-hydrogel plots registered 12.97% higher economic returns over control. The results suggested that P-hydrogel (2.5 kg ha) reduces runoff water loss in full irrigation applied plots and retained more water, where loss of water is more thus reduces number of irrigations. Hence P-hydrogel with irrigation water is a viable option for sustainable production of soybean-wheat systems in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India and other similar eco-regions of the world.
环境危机、要素生产率下降和自然资源减少对全球农业可持续性构成威胁。在印度印度河-恒河北部平原，地下水位下降和气候变化导致的不稳定降雨对农业构成了重大挑战，情况更加严峻。为了应对这些挑战，2016-2018 年期间进行了实地调查，以测试生物聚合超吸水性水凝胶（即 Pusa 水凝胶（P-水凝胶：半合成纤维素衍生物产品）和 Pusa 水凝胶的高岭土衍生物（K-水凝胶：半合成纤维素衍生物））的功效，以评估它们对作物和水生产力、土壤水分、根系动态和大豆（Glycine max L.）-小麦（Triticum aestivum L.）系统的经济影响，在三种灌溉制度下，即充分灌溉、有限灌溉和雨养。结果表明，与对照相比，充分灌溉加上 P-水凝胶可分别提高大豆（1.61-10.5%、2.2-9.5%和 2.15-21.8%）和小麦（11.1-18.3%、12-54%和 11.1-13.1%）的籽粒产量、生物量产量和水生产力（WP）。同样，在雨养条件下，与对照和其他组合相比，P-水凝胶处理的旱作处理分别提高了 52.7%和 20.6%的系统产量（以小麦当量产量计）。而在有限灌溉下，P-水凝胶处理的系统产量增加幅度约为 15.1%，在充分灌溉下，P-水凝胶处理的系统产量增加幅度为 8.0-19.4%。与无凝胶处理的地块相比，用 P-水凝胶处理的地块的土壤水分保持高出 3.0-5.0%，而用 K-水凝胶处理的地块的土壤水分保持低于对照（4.0-6.0%）。在盈利方面，与对照相比，充分灌溉加 P-水凝胶处理的地块的经济回报高出 12.97%。结果表明，P-水凝胶（2.5 公斤/公顷）可减少充分灌溉应用地块的径流水损失，并保持更多的水分，因此减少灌溉次数。因此，P-水凝胶与灌溉水是印度印度河-恒河平原和世界其他类似生态区可持续生产大豆-小麦系统的可行选择。
