Alternative Cropping Strategies for Assured and Efficient Crop Production in Dryland Maize Area of Western India Based on Rainfall Analysis

The productivity of maize in dryland areas of western India is very low (<0.9 t ha⁻¹) and unstable because of erratic rainfall in terms of quantum and distribution. Soils of the area are light to medium textured with low fertility status, and experience moisture deficit during dry spells. Keeping the urgent need of augmenting the productivity of dryland maize ecosystem, crop diversification techniques were evolved through farm research experiments in representative soils of western India after analyzing agro–climate (rainfall and rainy season variability, probability of assured rainfall and onset of effective monsoon) and edaphic (soil moisture retention properties) constraints and prospectus. Based on rainfall analysis, low water demanding, short duration maize-substituted alternative dryland crops namely, sorghum, groundnut, sesame, greengram, blackgram, cluster bean and horsegram were sown in medium textured soils for 4 years (2001 to 2004) with summer ploughing. Study revealed that in deficit rainfall years (2001, 2002 and 2003), when maize yield was affected adversely in medium textured soil, the productivity of maize substituting crops did not fluctuate much during rainfall excess (2004) and rainfall deficit year (2003).