Restoring the Land Productivity of Eroded Land Through Soil Water Conservation and Improved Fertilizer Application on Pothwar Plateau in Punjab Province, Pakistan

Abstract

Crop production in a rainfed area is constrained by inappropriate management of soil and water by the resource-poor farmers. The present study addresses this issue through integration of practices for soil water conservation (SWC) and soil fertility enhancement as well. Extensive experimentation on wheat-maize was undertaken for two years (2004-2006) on the fields of eight farmers representing two soil types; Rajar (Typic Ustorthent; USDA soil taxonomy) and Guliana (Udic Haplustalf; USDA soil taxonomy) in the Gujar Khan Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, Pakistan. Four treatments consisting of: no SWC+farmer's rate of fertilizer application (FP), no SWC+improved fertilizer application (IF), SWC practices i.e., deep plowing, bund improvement, plowing across contour+FP (SWC+FP) and SWC+IF. Wheat and maize grain yields in SWC and IF were statistically higher than in the treatments with no SWC and FP, respectively. Compared with the control without any treatment, increase in water use efficiency of both maize and wheat crop was higher in SWC+IF followed by IF alone. On the average, Guliana soil series showed better response to all treatments than Rajar soil. The integrated application of SWC and IF practices increased crop yields in the rainfed area.