System productivity, soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration of intensive rice-based cropping systems can be improved through legume crop inclusion with appropriate fertilizer application and crop residues incorporation in the eastern Indo-Gangatic plain

AimTo find out the system productivity in terms of rice equivalent yield (REY) and soil C and N sequestration of diverse intensive rice-based cropping systems under the appropriate nutrient management with different crop residue recycling.MethodsA field experiment was conducted in split-plot design, consisting of five cropping systems (CS) in main plot viz., rice-rice (RR), rice-wheat-jute (RWJ), rice-baby corn-jute (RBcJ), rice-vegetable pea-jute (RVpJ), rice-mustard-green gram-jute (RMGgJ) combined with four nutrients and crop residue management (NCRM) practices viz. 75% recommended doses of fertilizers (RDF) to all crops without crop residue (F1R0), 75% RDF with crop residue (F1R1), 100% RDF without crop residues (F2R0), and 100% RDF with crop residue (F2R1) in sub-plot. The rice, wheat, and corn residue at 4 Mg/ha and the residues of vegetable pea and green gram at 2 Mg/ha were incorporated yearly prior to the sowing of jute in April.ResultsThe highest system productivity (19.33 Mg/ha) was obtained in the RBcJ cropping system with 100% RDF with crop residue practice whilst, the higher sustainability index was found in the RMGgJ (0.82) and RVpJ (0.86) cropping systems. RMGgJ and F2R1 practice recorded the higher carbon sequestration (61.2, 63.0, respectively), carbon management index (0.56, 0.95 Mg/ha/year, respectively), nitrogen management index (74.3, 75.1, respectively), and nitrogen pool at 0-15 cm of soil and it was at par with RVpJ cropping systems.ConclusionRice-based intensive cropping systems having legume crops in rotation (RMGgJ and RVpJ) along with 100% RDF and crop residue incorporation sustained the system productivity and enhanced the soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration in soil.