Vol. 8, Special Issue 12 (2025)
Abstract
Pulses are the next most important food crop grown globally, providing nutritious food, feed, and fodder while conserving natural resources and maintaining ecological balance. Growing of pulses along with conservation tillage offers a promising path towards sustainable agriculture, enhancing soil health, increasing water retention and improving pulse yields while supporting environmental conservation and economic viability. By integrating practices like minimal soil disturbance, cover cropping, and precise nutrient management, farmers can reduce soil erosion and degradation, promote soil biota, and increase crop diversity. Conservation tillage helps sequester carbon, mitigate climate change, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unhealthy practices like excessive tillage, burning crop residues, improper time and method of sowing crop and overusing of chemical fertilizers could contribute to declining soil health and resource degradation. Shifting to conservation tillage involving pulses with improved varieties of pulse crop offers farmers a more sustainable low cost option that can boosts productivity. Effective agro-techniques for pulses also involve crop rotation, organic amendments, and integrated pest management, leading to improved nutrient cycling, reduced chemical use, and enhanced ecosystem services. Pulses can make significant difference in conservation agriculture by enrichment of soil by nitrogen fixation, improves water holding capacity, and mitigate the need for harmful fertilizers. Minimum tillage can lead to major savings in fuel and labour. Overall, cultivation of pulses under conservation tillage represents a holistic approach to achieving agricultural sustainability, resource efficiency, and environmental stewardship, ultimately contributing to food security, rural development, and a more sustainable future.
