Discussions regarding green manure crops in rice-wheat systems
(4/29/03 - 5/12/03)
______________________________________________________________
postings: 23
countries: Honduras, India, Israel, Nicaragua, Philippines, United States (Hawaii, New York)
organizations/institutions/companies: CATIE, CIIFAD, CIMMYT, Cornell University, COSECHA, ILRI/IRRI, USFDA From: amolak sandhu
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: short duration green manure crops
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003
Can anyone suggest any cultivars (of short duration green manure crops) that can fit in the wheat-rice farming systems? Ideally the cultivar should be one :
1. which can be sown broadcast in standing wheat crop in March; after harvesting wheat it should grow quickly, and
2. must produce enough herbage to be plowed in by the end of May or early June.
Amolak Sandhu
Punjab, India
______________________________________________________ From: william cook
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003
WHERE are you sir?
==================
WmCook
University of Hawaii
Honolulu
______________________________________________________ To: william cook
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
From: amolak sandhuDear Mr. Cook,
I am in India (Punjab). Punjab Agr. University recommends Sesbania, Guar for green manuring which cannot be sown in March. I understand Hubam clover is a possibility. I shall welcome anyother suggestions.
Amolak Sandhu
Punjab, India
______________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003
From: "Pezo, Danilo (ILRI)"
Subject: RE: short duration green manure crops
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Good question, as months may represent different conditions in different latitudes.Anyway, to gain time, I would suggest Amolak Sandhu to review a series of papers by T. George, J.K. Ladha and D.P. Garrity, based on the work they did at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines (although not on rice-wheat systems). Some of them are published in Agron. J. 86: 267-273; 87: 1-6. Also, the paper by Meelu et al in Trop. Agric. (Trin) 69: 133-136 covers the theme.
I understand there is a lot of literature on the topic, paricularly in rice-based systems, but not sure how much for the rice-wheat systems. Few years ago I found some when preparing a review paper on food-feed systems in Asia.
Danilo Pezo
Animal Nutritionist
ILRI-SEA c/o IRRI
Philippines
______________________________________________________ From: Roland Bunch
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Dear Amolak,
In order to give a decent recommendation, we should also know,
1) is this a dry period, or can you expect rains during this period, and how much?
2) at what elevation are you working? What is the average maximum daily temperature during the period involved?
3) are there animals ranging free during this period?
4) what pulses or other grain legumes are people accustomed to eating in that area, and will people either a) refuse to cut and bury an edible legume, or b) prefer an edible legume, and find some way of harvesting at least something useful from it during the period involved?
5) do people have any other specific needs in that area that the green manure/cover crop could fulfill, such as firewood, fodder, etc?
Sincerely, Roland Bunch
COSECHA
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
______________________________________________________ From: amolak sandhu
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003
Dear Roland,
Many thanks for your response. My answers to your questions area added below, in italics.
1) Is this a dry period, or can you expect rains during this period, and how much?
It is a dry period but land is (canal) irrigated, so soil moisture is not a problem. I am looking for cultivars (possibly legumes) which can germinate and establish on the soil surface under shaded conditions in the standing wheat crop, about 75-100 cm high.
2) At what elevation are you working? What is the average maximum daily temperature during the period involved?
Elevation less than 100m, average temperatures range about 25 degree C in March moving quickly up to 40 degreeC in April, day length increasing.
3) Are there animals ranging free during this period?
Yes but can be kept out.
4) What pulses or other grain legumes are people accustomed to eating in that area, and will people either
a) refuse to cut and bury an edible legume, or b) prefer an edible legume, and find some way of harvesting at least something useful from it during the period involved?
It is not a consideration at this time as the requirement is to add organic matter which has become a limiting factor for sustainig yields of rice and wheat.
5) Do people have any other specific needs in that area that the green manure/cover crop could fulfill, such as firewood, fodder, etc?
No, any additional benefits would be incidental; main objective is high herbage mass with possibly some nitrogen.
Sincerely,
Amolak Sandhu
______________________________________________________ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003
From: "mark joffe"
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: short duration green manure cropsAn interesting question! Maybe anyone with answers could include an assessment of the cost/profit equation i.e how much would it cost to buy and sow the seeds and plough the plants in and what might be the profit from this?
Mark Joffe
Israel
______________________________________________________ From: jamie
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Subject: RE: short duration green manure crops
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003
Hello everyone. If circumstances are favourable (see Roland's factors), Amolak might want to try using Masanobu Fukuoka's direct seeding, no tillage, natural rice and barley/wheat cropping succession that utilises a permanent cover crop of white clover - this was a system he perfected in a warm temperate/sub-tropical climate with regular summer rain.
Jamie Souscayrous
______________________________________________________ From: Peter Hobbs
To: Raj Gupta, MULCH-L
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003
Dear All:
The main greenmanure crop used in the rice-wheat system in this situation is Sesbania aculeata and rostrata. The latter is less used but has more external stem nodules. It also has harder seeds and germinates less. It is usually broadcast into the harvested wheat stubble and grown with irrigation for 50 or more days. It is then ploughed down before preparing the field for rice. There are lots of references on this, but Dr. OP Meelu, now retired from PAU Ludhiana has lots of work on this particular topic. He has a FAO publication called "Green Manuring for Soil Productivity Improvement". It is a World Soil Series Report number 76 (ISSN 0532-0488) published in 1994. This has lots of references although dated.
Interestingly, the number of farmers adopting this obviously positive practice is small. From my work in the RW consortium, I believe there are several reasons. The first is that if you add the costs involved including water (it is the hottest and driest time of the year), use of a bag of urea is cheaper, although that doesn't cost out the benefits of the greenmanure for things other than nitrogen. Seed availability is also a factor. In fact some farmers grow Sesbania for seed and also for the sticks they produce since they get more returns from this, but then rice cannot be grown.
Some scientists have also looked at the use of mungbean (Phaseolus aureus) as a greenmanure suggesting that the grain are harvested for income and the residues incorporated for greenmanure. This has been successful although if the beans are harvested the net returns in terms of nitrogen are low and many farmers would prefer to use the residue as an animal feed than to plow it under. In the warmer areas in the Eastern Gangetic Plains where rice-wheat is grown, Crotalaria juncea is used as a fiber, stick and greenmanure crop, but once again if it is grown full cycle, rice has to be sacrificed. I suggest you look up the RW consortium web page at http://www.rwc-prism.cgiar.org and use the search tool there to find other information. Raj Gupta at R.Gupta@cgiar.org is also the RWC Facilitator and can direct you in the right direction. I hope that helps.Cheers,
Peter Hobbs
CIMMYT/Cornell University
______________________________________________________ From: Peter Hobbs
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003
Just one more point. The RWC is promoting 0-tillage for wheat and is working on rice as well with some success. Leaving residue mulch on the surface is important in this new system and data from other areas shows this is a good way to imporve soil physical and biological properties in the surface layers of the soil and also get improved soil organic matter over time. Once again the RWC web page (http://www.rwc-prism.cgiar.org) should have some data on this.
Peter Hobbs
______________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 05 May 2003
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
From: David Weight
Subject: Re: short duration green manure cropsRe: Message from Peter Hobbs (below): I have seen a number of theories in the past year which address the effectiveness of residue or parallel systems such as the Nutrient Access thesis from Roland Bunch. This and similar approaches are based primarily on re-interpretation of nutrient mineralization processes- especially rapid mineralization in tropical systems where agricultural systems parallel efficient tropical forest systems.
Recently, I have read literature from Lemieux at Laval, Quebec which takes a different approach with a focus on physical chemistry - especially entropy/ energy processes in forest soil systems and the role of lignin transformation in these processes.
Are you or others familiar with this second approach? Have you seen further literature re: this approach- or any that integrates the two approaches?
Sincerely,
David Weight
MSU
______________________________________________________ From: william cook
To: amolak
Amolak,Looking at your reply to Roland and recalling Indian crops I play with, you might also try the mustards, Rai, Toria, Rocket....their seeds are small thus sowing is cheap.
How about Methi then? (Trigonella f.)...perhaps too warm in Mr....
______________________________________________________ From: amolak sandhu
To: MULCH-L
Subject: Re: More
Date: Fri, 2 May 2003
Thanks Bill, but these oilseed crops are alternatives to wheat; their growing period coincides with wheat. I am interested in plants that can grow a lot of organic matter March/April to end of May for incorporation prior to rice planting.
Amolak Sandhu
____________________________________________________
From: Charles Staver
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Tue, 6 May 2003
David,
Do you have a reference on the Lemieux paper?
Charles Staver
CATIE (Nicaragua)____________________________________________________ To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
From: David Weight
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Cc: Gilles.LemieuxCharles and colleagues:
The principal paper by Lemieux that I have read is:
"The Basics of the Economic and Scientific Green Revolution of the Sahel. This and other of his writings can be found at http://www.sbf.ulaval.ca/brf.
Be prepared. The scientific thinking and language is from forest science which is quite different from ag. science literature. I would like to hear your thoughts on these approaches.
Enjoy,
David Weight
______________________________________________________ From: "william cook"
To: amolaks@ntlworld.com
Cc: mulch-l@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Date: Tue, 06 May 2003Amolak,
Continuing to ponder, I think you may have asked the wrong question; you should have asked "what six week green manure crop can I insert into my Wheat/Rice rotation effectively?"
I say that because I am thinking that a mixed crop of wheat with a legume or the same with the rice.
Trying to establish anything into a crop of standing wheat crop is perhaps hopeless.
First tell us, assuming it was done last year, the sowing and harvest dates of the wheat and of the rice last time? What did the wheat field look like after emergence.....broadcast or rows and if rows, what spacing? What tools were used in harvest.....combine or hand sickle? How is the crop threshed? What becomes of the straw(bhusa?)
I need this first but will say that both Grasspea(Lathyrus sativus) and Black-Purple Vetch(Vicia atropurpurea) look like possibilities when mixed with the wheat. Grasspea particularly is a delicate
leaved thing that likely will not overwhelm the wheat.
But, those questions....
WmCook
______________________________________________________ From: Donald Kass
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Date: Wed, 07 May 2003
Dear Mulchers,
Guatemalan farmers used to establish Lathyrus nigravalis in standing maize crops--something easier to do than establish a legume in a wheatfield. It wouild grow slowly at first but take off after the maize was harvested and produce an enormous amount of dry matter--up to 20 t/ha by the end of the dry season--it was planted in August and cut down in about April. It was quite frost resistant.
We should remind Amolak that it used to be common practice to underow a legume, alfalfa , clover or birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) in spring oats or barley--in such exotic places as New York State. After the grain was harvested, the legume crop would take off and be used for pasture or green manure. It could be plowed under at any time for a subsequent crop.
People seem to have managed quite well until they invented herbicides--which besides polluting and encouraging genetic manipulation of crops, stifled creativity.
Don Kass
Northeast Regional Laboratory
US Food and Drug Adminsitration______________________________________________________ From: Kenneth Schlather
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: re: short duration green manure crops
Dear Amolak,
I'm not sure whether this particular approach could be adapted to your situation but i think it has possibilities: in a north-central/northwestern province of Luzon in the Philippines (i forget the name of the province but you might check with Dennis Garrity, currently the Director General at ICRAF) an Indigofera species is planted with mung or maize i believe following the harvest of a rainfed rice crop in November. The mung and indigo grow on residual moisture, as this part of the Philippines has a six months dry/six months wet climate and November marks the beginning of the dry season. The indigo emerges with the mung crop, but then has little above-ground growth throughout the dry season. Instead its growth is almost entirely directed to below ground root (obviously) growth. The indigo survives the entire dry season and as soon as the first rains begin in late April/early May the aboveground growth is very rapid.How might this be applied to the rice wheat system? You might consider planting the indigo with the wheat crop, with the hope that it would not compete with the wheat crop and then irrigating after harvesting the wheat. I suspect that part of the reason that the Indigofera species does not put out much above ground growth from November to March may be due to photoperiodicity but really am not sure. You might wish to consult Duke's Handbook of Legumes of World Economic Importance for more information on the species in the genus.
This approach can also be considered with other species, such as Cajanus cajan (pigeonpean). There is a great deal of variation among different varieties of the species and it is possible that there are varieties that have slow aboveground growth initially, followed by much more rapid growth, once the root system is established. The extra benefit of this species is it is already familiar and widely available in India (as you no doubt know) and ICRISAT has screened dozens if not hundreds of varieties and could probably give you some indication of the growth habits of those they have.
Best of luck, and please, could you report back to the list-serve with what you decide to do, as well as any results that you obtain from whatever you decide to do?
Thanks. ken
CIIFAD fellow/consultant______________________________________________________
From: amolak sandhu
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Tue, 6 May 2003
Dear Ken,
Many thanks for your informative response. Indigofera was once very common in India, mainly in the present day Bangla Desh and Indian Bengal. It did have a small role in the subjugation of India. Due to the exploitation of the indigo farmers by the then rulers/ traders, the plant itself became a symbol of hate and its cultivation eventually declined. UNDP is reviving its cultivation in Maharashtra state for its natural dye for use in textile industry.Handloom Weavers in Punjab state are being encouraged to use indigo instead of chemical blue dyes. As a green manure crop, I am doubtful if it would give enough herbage in the short period of six weeks but I am trying to contact people in Bengal, where they have a research programme going on, if they can provide any useful data. I do grow pigeon peas but this plant shows slow growth early in the season.
As you suggested, I will certainly share my experiences, if and when I have something to report.
Regards,
Amolak Sandhu
______________________________________________________ From: Donald Kass
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Tue, 06 May 2003Dear Amolak, Chuck et al.,
Before Indigofera was used to exploit people on the Indian subcontinent, it was also cultivated in the Americas--you can still find some tanks for soaking indigo on farms in El Salvador and Guatemala. A rice-indigo rotation was even practiced in South Carolina-- but I needn't say who it was who stirred the indigo tanks and added the lime. CIAT has done some research on Indigofera--it does decompose very quickly and it was quite a good N source for rice. This was a joint CATIE-CIAT thesis and it was published: Cobo, J.G., Barrios, E., Kass, D.C.L. and Thomas, R.J. 2002. Decomposition and mineral release by green manures in a tropical hillside agroecosystem. Plant and Soil 240: 331-342.
So maybe indigo will rise again. It is a pretty good sized plant and seemed to have quite a bit more stems than leaves but I don't want to prejudice anyone. There is a good discussion in Allen and Allen (as always)--I just discovered that my copy was lost in moving from Costa Rica to NY--but there are several used copies available from Amazon booksellers for less than $20--of course, I got my first copy for free.
Best wishes to all,
Don Kass
Northeast Regional Laboratory
US Food and Drug Adminsitration______________________________________________________ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu,
From: Kenneth Schlather
Subject: Re: short duration green manure cropsDear Amolak,
Forgive me if i am mis-interpreting your concerns about both Indigofera and pigeon pea having slow growth early in the season, but it seems that that would be precisely what you would want: if you planted the GM crop into wheat you would have little competition with the wheat, but as soon as the wheat was harvested you would "release" the GM crop for rapid growth, i.e. the early vegetative state (characterized by slow growth) would have taken place while the wheat crop matures, and the next stage of (rapid vegetative) growth would take place right after harvest. In the case of the Indigofera system in the Philippines the period from the beginning of the rainy season until first plowing is also roughly 6 weeks. The trick would be in getting GM crop establishment (including that first "slow-growth" vegetative state) without competition with the wheat crop and timing both crops so the rapid growth begins very soon after wheat harvest. ken
______________________________________________________
From: amolak sandhu
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
Date: Thu, 8 May 2003
Thanks Ken, I appreciate the information you have provided. I do not think it would be possible to mix Indigo or pigeon peas with wheat, which is sown in October, heavily fertilised and irrigated weekly and combine harvested in mid April. I feel these plants will compete with the main crop( early in the season when the temperature is high), lower yields and would be troublesome for mechanical harvesting.(During the months of December and January night temperature are about 4 degree centigrade, sometimes plunging below zero, these plants probably may not survive). Rice transplanting starts in mid June onwards.So there is only a short span of six weeks for any green manure crop to fit in the wheat-Rice rotation. To increase this short span I am inclined to think of sowing pelleted seeds of any legume in a standing wheat crop in early March, which I hope will not grow too fast to become nuisance at harvest time. There is plenty of moisture all the time for the GM seeds to establish and survive for four/ five weeks, when wheat will be harvested providing plenty of light for the GM to start growing actively.
Amolak
______________________________________________________ From: william cook
To: mulch-l@cornell.edu
Date: Wed, 07 May 2003I wrote, because some of the replies seemed to have missed the constraints:
"Amolak wrote ....something to sow in Mr and harvest in My...."_____________________________________________________
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
From: Jon Padgham
Subject: Re: short duration green manure crops
The issue of whether a green manure crop supports or suppresses plant-parasitic nematodes or other soilborne pathogens is worth considering in the rice-wheat system.
In my dissertation research in northwestern Bangladesh, I found severe and widespread infestation of the rice root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne graminicola) in farmer fields where rice was rotated with wheat. Both of these cereal crops are excellent hosts to this nematode supporting high levels of reproduction and damaging crop root systems. This pest problem should be taken into consideration when deciding to add green manures--- for instance, Sesbania rostrata is an excellent host to this nematode and would exacerbate a root-knot infesation. My own research found that short-duration mungbean, which is rotated between wheat and rice, and grasspea are both poor hosts to M. graminicola so would be appropriate in areas infested with this nematode species.
A soil bioassay test is a simple means of determining whether root-knot nematodes are a problem in a particular production area. Collect a composite soil sample, put it in a pot and grow rice or wheat for about 30 days, wash the roots and look for symptoms of root-knot galling. Because of its distinctive symptoms on roots, it works well for root-knot nematode infestations. Its probably less reliable for other plant-parasitic nematodes for which damage is harder to detect.
I hope this helps.
Jon Padgham
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853_____________________________________________________ From: "amolak sandhu"
To: "Lucy Fisher"
Subject: Re: the mulch-L discussion
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003(NOTE: This is Amolak Sandhu's answer to my final question as to what he planned to do with the information he received from the mulch-L discussion).
Dear Lucy,
I am a farmer. My question did raise a lot of interest of interest. Many people gave useful suggestions, insights and opinions and I am grateful to all who responded. I will have to do my own research, it appears. I shall try seed ball/ seed pellet relay cropping of green manure crop next year. I will look at the behaviour of Hubam, Sesbania, Crotolaria. I will let you know if I find anything worth reporting.
Mulch discussion was located while trawling the net.
Regards
Amolak
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