The rice-wheat rotation is the principal cropping system in south Asian countries that occupies about 13.5 million hectares in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), of which 10 million hectares are in India, 2.2 million hectares in Pakistan, 0.8 million hectares in Bangladesh and 0.5 million hectares in Nepal. This system covers about 33% of the total rice area and 42% of the total wheat area in the four countries as stated above, and account for one quarter to one third of the total rice and wheat production. This cropping system is dominant in most Indian states, such as Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and contributes to 75% of the national food grain production. This cropping system is also very prevalent in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, especially the Jammu region. There was a time when the yield of paddy was the highest, i.e. more than 4.2 t ha−1 in the valley of Kashmir among the north-western Himalayan states, but now it has reduced considerably. Thus, the rice-wheat cropping system is the cornerstone of India's food self-sufficiency. The environmental requirements for the growth and development of both rice and wheat crops are contrastingly different. Rice grows best under stagnant water conditions, while wheat requires a well-pulverized soil with a proper balance of moisture, air and thermal regime. Therefore, a dominating feature of the rice-wheat cropping system is the annual conversion of soil from aerobic to anaerobic and then back to aerobic conditions.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Keywords
References
Acharya, C.L., Subba Rao, A., Biswas, A.K., Reddy, K.S., Yadav, R.L., Dwivedi, B.S., Shukla, A.K., Singh, V.K. and Sharma, A.K. (2003). Methodologies and Package of Practices on Improved Fertilizer Use Efficiency Under Various Agroclimatic Regions for Different Crops/Cropping Systems and Soil Conditions. Indian Institute of Soil Science (ICAR), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), India.
Anonymous. (2005–06). Fertilizer Statistics. The Fertilizer Association of India, New Delhi.
Bhagat, R.M. and Verma, T.S. (1991). Impact of rice straw management on soil physical properties and wheat yield. Soil Sci. 152 (2): 108–115.
Bhushan, L. and Sharma, P.K. (1997). Effect of soil moisture regime and nutrient supplies on root growth and yield of wheat in a subsurface compacted soil. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 45 (2): 213–219.
Bhushan, L. and Sharma, P.K. (1999). Effect of depth, bulk density and aeration status of root zone on productivity of wheat. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 47 (1): 29–34.
Blake, R.O. (1992). Sustainable and increased food production. Agric. Syst. 40: 7–19.
Chenkual, V. and Acharya, C.L. (1990). Effect of rice-wheat and maize-wheat rotations on soil physical properties including soil water behaviour in an acidic Alfisol. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 38 (4): 574–582.
Dobermann, A. and Cassman, K.G. (1996). Precision nutrient management in intensive rice systems: The need for another on-farm revolution. Better Crops 10 (2): 20–25.
Fujisaka, S., Harrington, L. and Hobbs, P.R. (1994). Rice-Wheat in South Asia: Systems and Long-Term Priorities Established Through Diagnostic Research. CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar (India), pp. 61–76.
Greenland, D.J. and De Datta, S.K. (1985). Proceeding Wetland Soils: Characterization, Classification and Utilization. International Research Institute, Manila, Philippines.
Gupta, R.D. and Tripathi, B.R. (1993). Characterization of rice growing and adjacent virgin soils — I. Morphology properties, genesis and classification. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 41 (4): 720–724.
Gupta, R.D., Tripathi, B.R., Awasthi, K.R. and Bhat, M.I.K. (1992). Microbial activities of rice soil profiles of North West Himalayas. Oryza 29 (2): 127–130.
Hobbs, P.R. (1994). Rice-wheat system in South Asia. In Proceeding of Symposium on Sustainability of Rice-Wheat Cropping in India. CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar (India), pp. 61–76.
IRRI (1992). IRRI Reporter. International Rice Resources Institute, Los Banos, Philippines, 4/92, pp. 4.
IRRI (1995). Water: A Loaming Crisis. International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines, pp. 90.
Kanwar, J.S. and Sekhon, G.S. (1998). Nutrient management for sustainable intensive agriculture. Fert. News 43 (2): 33–40.
Ladha, J.K., Fischer, K.S., Hossain, M., Hobbs, P.R. and Hardy, B. (2000). Improving the productivity and sustainability of rice-wheat systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains: A synthesis of NARS-IRRI partnership research. Discussion Paper 40. IRRI, Los Banos, Philippines.
Ladha, J.K., Dawe, D., Pathak, H., Padre, R.L., Yadav, R.L., Singh, B., Singh, Y., Singh, P., Kundu, A.L., Kundu, R., Sakal, R., Ram, N., Regmi, A.P., Gami, S.K., Bhandari, A.L., Amin, R., Yadav, C.R., Bhattaria, E.M., Das, S., Aggarwal, H.P., Gupta, R.K. and Hobbs, P.R. (2003). How extensive are yield declines in long-term rice-wheat experiments in Asia? Field Crops Res. 81 (2–3): 159–180.
Mahajan, A. (2001). Characterization of Balh Valley soils of district Mandi. M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Soil Science, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (India).
Mahajan, A. (2006). Soil-water dynamics, root growth and wheat yield in a sequentially deep tilled post-rice soil. Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Soil Science, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (India).
Mahajan, A. and Bhagat, R.M. (2006). Effect of depth of tillage on root growth parameters of wheat vis-à-vis wheat yield in post-rice soils in Palam Valley of Himachal Pradesh, India. In Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Hill Agriculture (Eds. S. Arora and V. Sharma). Soil Conservation Society of India, Jammu, SKAUST-J, pp. 35–41.
Mahajan, A., Sharma, S.K., Gupta, R.D. and Sharma, R. (2007). Morphological, physical and chemical properties of soils from North West Himalayas. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci. 13 (5): 607–618.
Pathak, H., Ladha, J.K., Fischer, Aggarwal, P.K., Peng, S., Das, S., Singh, Y., Singh, B., Kamra, S.K., Mishra, B., Sastri, A.S.R.A.S., Aggarwal, H.P., Das, D.K. and Gupta, R.K. (2003). Climatic potential and on farm yield trends of rice-wheat in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Field Crops Res. 80 (3): 223–234.
Pillai, K.G. (1994). Current trends in production and productivity and improving rice production. In Proceeding of Symposium on Sustainability of Rice-Wheat Cropping in India (Eds. S.D. Dhimal, M.K. Choudhary, D.V.S. Panwar and K.S. Verma). CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar (India), pp. 14–60.
Ponnamperuma, F.N. (1972). The chemistry of submerged soils. Adv. Agron. 24: 29–26.
Ponnamperuma, F.N. (1985). Chemical kinetics of wetland rice soils relative to soil fertility. In Wetland Soils: Characterization, Classification, and Utilization. International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines, pp. 71–90.
Regmi, A.P., Ladha, J.K., Pathak, H., Pasuquin, E., Bueno, C., Dawe, D., Hobbs, P.R., Joshy, D., Maskey, S.L. and Pandey, S.P. (2002). Yield and soil fertility trends in a 20 year rice-wheat experiment in Nepal. Soli Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66 (3): 857–867.
Sharma, P.K. and De Datta, S.K. (1986). Physical properties and processes of puddle rice soils. Adv. Soil Sci. 5: 139–178.
Sharma, P.K., Ladha, J.K. and Bhushan, L. (2003). Soil physical effects of puddling in rice-wheat cropping systems. Improving the productivity and sustainability of rice-wheat systems: Issues and impacts. American Society of Agronomy Special Publications 65, U.S.A.
Yadav, R.L. (1996). Cropping systems. In years of Crop Science Research in India, ICAR Publications, pp. 117–120.
Yadav, R.L. and Subba Rao, A.V.M. (2001). Atlas of cropping systems in India. PDCSR Bulletin No. 2001–02, pp. 96, PDCSR, Modipuram, Meerut, India.
Yadav, R.L., Pal Kamta Prasad, S.S. and Dwivedi, B.S. (1999). Role of fertilizers in cereal production for food security and balanced diet. Fert. News 44 (12): 75–88.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
(2009). The Rice–Wheat Cropping System. In: Mahajan, A., Gupta, R.D. (eds) Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) in a Sustainable Rice—Wheat Cropping System. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9875-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9875-8_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9874-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9875-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)