Conservation Agriculture Research Updates - April 2026

This paper looks at wheat production in subtropical systems where terminal heat, lodging and erratic rain are common climate induced stresses. The data is collected from 8 locations in India. There were two tillage treatments; CT and NT and permanent raised beds (PRB). They had early and timely planting dates and 3 wheat varieties. Results show that NT and PRB significantly reduced lodging and increased grain yields compared to CT. Early sowing (early November) and the use of lodging-resilient varieties reduced crop lodging, improved crop performance, and increased wheat grain yield compared to late sowing (late November) and the lodging susceptible variety.

This paper was selected because few papers look at wheat date of planting yet no-till wheat in South Asia came about because it enabled earlier planting and better yields. This paper used a large number of on-farm surveys in the rice-wheat system of the IGP to show that wheat sowing date has in fact a central role on higher yields superseding all other management, soil and varietal factors. They estimate that that wheat yield potential will increase by 69% by adjusting earlier planting dates without affecting rice yield, irrigation requirements or profitability. What I didn't see in the abstract was the best way to plant wheat earlier is to adopt no-till wheat!!