Citation: Shahane, A.A.; Shivay, Y.S.;
Prasanna, R.; Kumar, D.; Bana, R.S.
Effect of Crop Establishment
Methods and Microbial Inoculations
on Augmenting the Energy Efficiency
and Nutritional Status of Rice and
Wheat in Cropping System Mode.
Sustainability 2022, 14, 5986. https://
doi.org/10.3390/su14105986
Academic Editors: Luis
Hernández-Callejo, Sergio
Nesmachnow and Sara Gallardo
Saavedra
Received: 28 March 2022
Accepted: 26 April 2022
Published: 15 May 2022
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Article
Effect of Crop Establishment Methods and Microbial
Inoculations on Augmenting the Energy Efficiency and
Nutritional Status of Rice and Wheat in Cropping System Mode
Amit Anil Shahane
1,2
, Yashbir Singh Shivay
1,
* , Radha Prasanna
3
, Dinesh Kumar
1
and Ram Swaroop Bana
1,
*
1
Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India;
amitiari89@gmail.com (A.A.S.); dineshctt@yahoo.com (D.K.)
2
Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture under (CAU, Imphal), Kyrdemkulai, Ri-Bhoi 793 105, India
3
Division of Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India;
radhapr@gmail.com
* Correspondence: ysshivay@hotmail.com (Y.S.S.); rsbana@gmail.com (R.S.B.)
Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years with the aim to quantify the
role of different nutrient management variables such as microbial inoculation, zinc (Zn) fertilization
and optimal and sub-optimal fertilization of nitrogen and phosphorus on the energetic and nutritional
status of the rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS). The said nutrient management variables were
applied over six different crop establishment methods (CEMs) in RWCS viz. puddled transplanted
rice (PTR), system of rice intensification (SRI) and aerobic rice system (ARS) in rice and conventional
drill-sown wheat (CDW), system of wheat intensification (SWI) and zero-tillage wheat (ZTW) in
wheat. Two microbial consortia viz. Anabaena sp. (CR1) + Providencia sp. (PR3) consortia (MC1) and
Anabaena-Pseudomonas biofilmed formulations (MC2) were used in this study, while recommended
dose of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) (RDN) (120 kg N ha
−1
and
25.8 kg P ha
−1
), 75% RDN and Zn
fertilization (soil applied 5 kg Zn ha
−1
through zinc sulphate heptahydrate) were the other variables.
The contribution of microbial consortia, Zn fertilization and RDN (over 75% RDN) to net energy pro-
duction of RWCS was 12.9–16.1
×
10
3
MJ ha
−1
, 10.1–11.0
×
10
3
MJ ha
−1
and
11.7–15.3 × 10
3
MJ ha
−1
.
Among the CEMs, the highest gross and net energy production was recorded in ARS–ZTW with
lowest energy required for production of one tonne of system yield (2366–2523 MJ). The system
protein yield varies from 494.1 to 957.7 kg ha
−1
with highest protein yield in 75% RDN + MC2 + Zn
applied ARS–ZTW. Among micronutrients, the uptake of Zn and iron (Fe) is sensitive to all studied
variables, while manganese (Mn) and cupper (Cu) uptake was found significantly affected by CEMs
alone. The combination of 75% RDN + MC2 + Zn in ARS–ZTW was found superior in all respects
with 288.3 and 286.9 MJ ha
−1
net energy production and 2320 and 2473 MJ energy required for
production of one tonne system yield in the first and second year of study, respectively.
Keywords:
aerobic rice; energetics; nitrogen; protein yield; system of rice intensification; zero-tillage
wheat; zinc
1. Introduction
Rice and wheat are the forerunner staple food crops in imparting the energy for
humans, directly through carbohydrate and protein as the main components of foods and
indirectly through different provisional services. Out of the total protein consumption in
India, 56.7% is from cereals [
1
], while 20% of per-capita energy for humans and 13% protein
in the diet of nearly half of the world population were contributed by rice, and this share is
much higher in developing countries [
2
]. The share of both crops to food grain production
is 75.11%, while the share in total cereal production was 81.3% [
3
]. This indicates the
role of rice and wheat in meeting the protein requirement of the Indian population. On
Sustainability 2022, 14, 5986. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105986 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
