The crop production remains unstable in rainfed regions, as they suffer from one or more factors such as moisture deficits, lack of nutrients, soil erosion and unfavourable soil physical conditions resulting in low infiltration of rainwater in soil and poor crop establishment and subsequently larger yield gap. The most efficient and cheapest way of conserving rainwater is to hold it in-situ which can be achieved by subsoiling. Subsoiling shatters the hardpan or compact layer present in the profile and helps infiltration of rainwater in lower layer of soil. Further the rainfed soils are not...

India occupies prime position in seed spices and plays very important role in earning foreign exchange through export of seed spices. India is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of the spices. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is an important seed spice. Gujarat ranks first with respect to production and productivity in India. Area under rabi direct seeded fennel is increasing day by day, because it is more profitable than other rabi crops like wheat, gram, cumin, mustard etc. Lake of production technologies and weed control particularly for rabi drilled fennel are important...

Specialty corns viz. sweet corn, pop corn, baby corn, high oil corn etc. assume tremendous market potential. These specialty corns with their high market value are perfectly suitable to Peri-urban agriculture. For diversification and value addition of maize as well as the growth of the food processing industry, growing maize for vegetable purpose, which is known as 'baby corn', is contemplated. Although increased level of production can be achieved by increased use of inorganic fertilizers alone but it may leads to pollution problem and deterioration in soil properties, organic carbon and...

The soil testing or leaf analyses are expensive and time-consuming. In addition, tissue testing is a destructive method, which limits its use as a diagnostic tool for nutrient use efficiency of cereal plants. The rapid tissue tests for cereal plants are not widely used because critical levels can vary greatly from site to site and can change rapidly over time. Matching crop N demand with flexible, split applications may have economic and environmental advantages above supplying fixed rates at fixed growth stages. In the absence of accurate and rapid N testing methods, many growers currently...

Pulses are considered as an important part of food crops occupying a unique position in agriculture. In the country like India, where people are predominantly vegetarians, pulses are main source of protein and thus gain vital importance in daily diet. Greengram is one of the major pulse crops in India which is cultivated in arid and semi-arid region. Weed problem is one of the major barriers responsible for low productivity of greengram because, weed competes with the crop for moisture, nutrients, space, light etc. Moreover they increase production cost, harbors insects and plant diseases...

About 88 per cent of groundnut area in India is sown in the kharif season and is rainfed. Water is the most vital resource in crop production especially in arid and semi arid regions. Rain water conservation is a critical factor in stabilizing and stepping up of rainfed groundnut production. A tillage practice like subsoiling and land configuration like broad bed and furrow improve infiltration of rain water and thus helps to improve moisture storage in soil profile for plants growth than the traditional method of flat bed. Besides, soil conservation practices, sulphur nutrition for oilseed...

Crop fertilization with potassium in rainfed agriculture in India is altogether missing merely on the assumption that Indian soils are rich in potassium and crops do not need external potassium supply. However, under continuous cropping in rainfed regions, most of the crops essentially deplete soil potassium reserves. Balanced fertilization is essential for maximum yields and maintenance of soil fertility. The maximum benefit due to application of N, P, K fertilizers and even secondary nutrients is not obtained in absence of adequate quantities of available micronutrients in the soil. Foliar...

Soybean Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is considered to be a miracle crop because of its dual qualities viz., high protein content and oil. These two parameters in one crop have thus gained considerable importance in the agricultural economy of the World. It has high yield potential, wide adaptability, and short duration, very high nutritional value, having a vast multiplicity of uses as food and industrial products. Moreover, being a legume, the crop fix large amount of atmospheric nitrogen in soil. Phosphorus and sulphur play impotent role in crop production. Phosphorus for the soybean crop has...

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the most important edible oilseed crops grown extensively in India. India is still the world leader with the maximum production (25.8%) from the largest area (29.3%) and highest export (40%) of sesame in the world. Fertilizers, even though, comparatively, costly input of production is essential for securing higher yields. The contribution of fertilizer in increasing agricultural production has been very well demonstrated in India and elsewhere. Water management stands second, next to fertilizer in augmenting the crop yield. For efficient utilization of...

Soybean is considered a miracle crop because of its dual qualities, viz., high protein content and oil in seed. In India, the average area under soybean cultivation is 7.71 m ha and the productivity of crop is 1073 kg/ha with total production of 8.27 m t. Even though it is the cheapest high quality vegetable protein, we are yet to exploit its full potential. The excess use of chemical fertilizer spoils the structure of the soil. Therefore, use of chemical fertilizer alone may not keep pace with time in maintenance of soil health for sustaining the crop productivity. Farmyard manure (FYM) and...