Publications by authors named "M K Gathala"

Climate change jeopardizes the food security gains achieved in India since the Green Revolution, especially by impacting the productivity of the rice-wheat system in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a region that serves as the 'breadbasket' of South Asia. In this study, we characterized the potential of long-term conservation agriculture (CA) based management practices (i.e.

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Agricultural field experiments are costly and time-consuming, and often struggling to capture spatial and temporal variability. Mechanistic crop growth models offer a solution to understand intricate crop-soil-weather system, aiding farm-level management decisions throughout the growing season. The objective of this study was to calibrate and the Crop Environment Resource Synthesis CERES-Maize (DSSAT v 4.

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Article Synopsis
  • Fall armyworm (FAW) has severely impacted maize yields and farmers' incomes in India's Eastern Gangetic Plains since 2018, with poor insecticide practices exacerbating the issue.
  • Research indicates that FAW causes the most damage during the early growth stages of maize, and fields with no insecticide use showed higher rates of natural parasitism by beneficial wasps compared to treated fields.
  • The study highlights the potential of endemic parasitoids as a sustainable, cost-effective strategy for controlling FAW, suggesting that integrating natural methods with existing practices can improve management outcomes.
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A 3-year field experiment was setup to address the threat of underground water depletion and sustainability of agrifood systems. Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) system combined with nitrogen management under conservation agriculture-based (CA) maize-wheat system (MWS) effects on crop yields, irrigation water productivity (WP), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and profitability. Grain yields of maize, wheat, and MWS in the SDI with 100% recommended N were significantly higher by 15.

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Intensive rice ()-based cropping systems in south Asia provide much of the calorie and protein requirements of low to middle-income rural and urban populations. Intensive tillage practices demand more resources, damage soil quality, and reduce crop yields and profit margins. Crop diversification along with conservation agriculture (CA)-based management practices may reduce external input use, improve resource-use efficiency, and increase the productivity and profitability of intensive cropping systems.

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