Reclamation of degraded vertisols under cassava in arid environments of india

Abstract

A major portion of the area under cassava in India is under irrigated Vertisols, and the farmers face a number of soil-related constraints which significantly reduce the tuberous root yield of cassava. In order to reclaim these arid lands and to increase the yield and profitability of farmers, farmer-friendly technologies have been developed based on field experiments conducted during the past 7 years since 2003. Three different on-farm experiments were conducted to study these problems and to develop a sustainable reclamation strategy. Major components of the technology include adoption of deep tillage with a chisel plough, application of neem cake, application of biofertilizers such as N fixer, P-solubilizing bacteria and AM fungi and biocontrol agents like Trichoderma and Pseudomonas. Besides this, a balanced fertilization schedule based on site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) approach have also been developed to address the problems due to imbalance in nutrient applications by farmers in those arid environments. Studies have shown that these technologies have resulted in significant increase in tuberous root yield and income of farmers besides improving soil health and soil quality.