Impact of Rice Residue Management Practices on Environment, Productivity and Economics of Wheat: A Review

Rice-Wheat (RW) is a major cropping system followed in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. This cropping system popularised with mechanisation of both mentioned crops. Increase in mechanisation, particularly use of combined harvesting enables harvesting of rice in a very short span of time but it leaves behind a large amount of crop residue. Ex-situ residue management of this voluminous residue is not feasible and economical to the farmer. Burning of rice residue is a common practise in India to manage the rice residue because of its low economic use, which causes serious air pollution and nutrient losses. Sustainability of RW system is at risk due to soil degradation and poor residue management practices. Proper in-situ residue management is of utmost importance as crop residue contains significant amount of nutrients and it can improve soil physical, chemical and biological health because of huge amount of organic carbon added to the soil. Various soil properties, wheat productivity, economics and the environment are highly influenced by the rice residue management practices adopted. In this review, the authors have discussed impact of different rice residue management practices and wheat sowing methods on wheat productivity, economics, soil properties and the environment.