1ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur-208 024, Uttar Pradesh
2Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi-284003, Uttar Pradesh
3ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management, Raipur-493225, Chhattisgarh
4ICAR-National Agricultural Science Fund (NASF), KAB-I, New Delhi-110 012
*Corresponding author's E-mail: nkumar.icar@gmail.com
Online published on 14 June, 2021.
Out of 43.95 m ha under rice in India, about 11.7 m ha area remains fallow after the rice harvest. A number of abiotic, biotic and socio-economic factors limit cultivation of crops after rice in these areas. Factors like low soil moisture content after rice harvest followed by fast decline in water table with advancement of crop season and mid-and terminal-drought at flowering and pod filling stages are the major bottlenecks for growing of crops in rice fallow. Pulses like lentil, chickpea, urdbean, mungbean and lathyrus are the candidate crops for rice fallow due to their better survival under surface seeding and rainfed situation. The inherited soil physical and biological constraints of rice fallow affect pulses seed germination, seedling emergence and crop establishment due to disruption of soil structure, poor aeration and mechanical impedance in the seed zone. To exploit these areas under rice fallow with pulses, location specific resource conservation practices may be fallowed. The present paper deals with the constraints and strategies related to rice fallow-pulse system in different agro ecological regions of the country.
Abiotic stress, Biotic stress, Constraints, Cropping system, Resource conservation, Rice fallow
