Diversification of Rice–wheat Cropping System Improves Growth, Productivity and Energetics of Rice in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India

Rice–wheat cropping system plays a vital role in ensuring food security of India. However, the long-term sustainability of the system is often questioned due to several problems associated with it. Diversification of the rice–wheat cropping system with suitable crops could be a possible solution. Thus, a field experiment consisting of ten rice-based cropping sequences was conducted in a randomized block design with three replications at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, for two consecutive years to study the effects of crop diversification on rice performance. The effect of crop diversification on rice was found to be significant only during the second year of experimentation. Results showed that rice–berseem–cowpea fodder followed by rice–potato–green gram sequence recorded highest growth, yield, nutrients uptake, protein yield, carbohydrates yield, economics and energetics of rice. Rice–berseem–cowpea fodder sequence recorded significantly higher number of panicle m−2 (16%), grain yield (13.9%), straw yield (13.6%), total N, P, K uptake (17.2, 21.7, 17%, respectively), protein yield (14.6%) and carbohydrate equivalent yield (13.9%) over rice–wheat cropping sequence. In addition to above, rice–berseem–cowpea fodder sequence also proved significantly superior to rice–wheat cropping sequence and recorded higher gross returns (13.9%), net returns (46.6%), net energy (15.9%), energy productivity (13.8%) and energy intensity (13.9%). Rice–berseem–cowpea fodder and rice–potato–green gram were found the most suitable cropping sequence to diversify rice–wheat cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic plain for better performance of rice.