Conservation Agriculture Research Updates - March 2026

This study was undertaken on CA-based sustainable intensification of Indian mustard for enhancing input efficiencies, farm profitability and sustainability. Permanent beds with residue retention (PB + R) improved mustard equivalent yield (11.4%) and system grain yield (10.6%) compared with conventional tillage without residue (CT − R). Maize–mustard rotation (Mz–M) increased system grain yield (142.9%) as well as mustard equivalent yield (60.7%) compared with fallow-mustard (F-M). They conclude that CA-based Mz–M system should be promoted in traditional rainfed fallow-mustard areas to improve farm production and income and help make the country self-sufficient in edible oils.

This study looked at three climate smart technologies (CSA) experimented by farmers in Malawi in terms of soil quality and maize yields and compared to CFS. The three technologies were conservation agriculture (CA), maize–pigeonpea (Maize-PP) intercrops and a local organic and inorganic soil amendment known as Mbeya fertilization (Mbeya-fert), from 2018 to 2019. Particulate organic matter, soil organic carbon (SOC), N, P, K, Ca and Mg all significantly improved while bulk densities were lowered under the three CSA systems compared to conventional farmer systems (CFS). CA and Mbeya-fert improved maize yields by 51 and 19%, respectively, compared to conventional farmer practices. They concluded that employing these CSA technologies could enable farmers to be more resilient, productive and adapt better to climate change shocks leading to improved food security and livelihoods.

The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the inclusion of intensified leguminous live mulch systems can improve system productivity, carbon management index (CMI), and soil health in rainfed systems. Two cropping systems viz, summer maize-rainy season maize-lentil (SM-RM-L); and summer maize-rainy season maize-mustard (SM-RM-Ma) and five tillage and mulching practices 1) no-till (NT); 2) NT with live mulch (NT-LM); 3) reduced tillage (RT); 4) RT with live mulch (RT-LM); and 5) conventional tillage (CT) were tested. The study concluded a positive role of LM based conservation tillage practices in improving soil properties, carbon management indices, and productivity of maize-based cropping systems in the eastern Indian Himalayas.

This Brazilian study looked at water retention in relation to soil physical and chemical properties on Cambisols with different land uses in a semi-arid region of Brazil.  The environments studied were Preserved Forest - reference area, Cajarana Orchard Area, Corn/Bean Consortium, Watermelon/Pumpkin Consortium, and Agroecological Cultivation. The Preserved Forest presented the highest field capacity, permanent wilting point, and available water. The study concluded that the soil tillage systems alter the chemical, physical and structural attributes of Cambisols of the semiarid area studied and that minimum tillage is the most suitable tillage system for the region.

This study estimates the statistical effect of Conservation Agriculture on cropping-system yields (as opposed to single crops) under historical climate conditions. The cropping-system yields considered all crops grown including maize (Zea mays L.) and legumes in intercropping or rotation, or both. Data included 6296 yield observations from on-farm trials in farmer plots conducted over 14 seasons. This work studied three treatments: (1) a Control Practice treatment where the soil was tilled, crop residues were removed, and there was no crop species diversification, (2) a NT treatment where the soil was not tilled, crop residues were retained, and there was no crop species diversification, and (3) a CA treatment where the soil was not tilled, crop residues were retained, and there was crop species diversification through legume intercropping. The results demonstrate how CA can improve the adaptive capacity of cropping systems and this provides urgently needed evidence on how farmers can adapt to climate stress.

This study introduced CA to manage agro-ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity, and increased farmers’ profits while maintaining natural resources in rice-wheat systems of the IndoGangetic Plains of India. The project managed natural resources at the farm, village, and landscape scales to increase synergies between food production and ecosystem conservation. The results show that the CA-based rice-wheat (RW) system integrated with mungbean improved the system productivity by ∼10%, profitability by 20–30% using 15–30% less irrigation water, and 20–25% less energy input compared to conventional RW system in the IGP. Replacing rice with maize improved the productivity by 10-15% and profitability by 40–50% using ∼70% less irrigation water. CA layered with subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) in CA-based rice/maize systems recorded ∼5% higher system productivity and saved ∼50% of irrigation water compared to flood irrigation in CT-based systems. CA-based systems are found more adapted to extreme climatic conditions and can mitigate the negative effects of climatic stresses like terminal heat and water stress.

This paper from Eastern India looks at various ways of establishment of crops in a rice-pulse system and their effect on cellulolytic bacteria. . It has 7 different establishment systems that include the traditional puddling and transplanting for rice but also direct seeding with inter-cropped Sesbania, wet direct sowing, ZT direct sowing and use of drum seeder plus biochar. Their findings show that long-term ZT in the rice-pulse system could be a unique source for efficient cellulose decomposing bacteria and further the efficient bacterial strains isolated from this system can be used as efficient bioinoculants for in situ as well as ex-situ decomposition of rice straw particularly in conservation agriculture

This study investigated the effects of CA and CT on soil organic carbon (SOC)and selected hydraulic properties in two contrasting areas in Malawi using on-farm trials. Sole maize with CA and CT plus maize-legume intercropping with CA were used. Soil samples were taken after using CA for 10 years at 6 different depths. At all sites CA improved total SOC, carbon stocks and stable fraction of of particulate organic carbon. They conclude that changing management practices from CT-SM to CA has the potential to improve the soil organic matter and soil hydraulic properties across agro-ecological zones in Malawi.

In mixed crop-livestock farming systems, smallholder farmers face the challenge of insufficient dry season livestock feed whilst crop production is mainly constrained by poor soil fertility and erratic rains. This study evaluated the effects of maize-legume cropping systems on forage, maize grain yield and gross margins. The cropping systems involved one conventional tillage practice with continuous sole maize (CT), four CA treatments consisting of continuous sole maize, maize-mucuna intercrop, maize-cowpea intercrop and maize-groundnut/soybean rotations. The experiment was replicated on eight farmers’ fields with each farmer treated as a replicate. Maize-mucuna intercropping was the best of the tested cropping systems with respect to forage yield and gross margin.

This study, reported the results obtained during a 2-year field experiment of a 7-year experiment started in 2010–2011, combining two tillage practices (Conventional Tillage (CT) and Zero Tillage (ZT)) with two crop sequences (Wheat monocropping (WW) and Wheat-Faba bean (WF)) in Italy. Soil Quality (SQ) was monitored through the selection of some chemical, physical, and biological indicators measured by both visual–Visual Soil Assessment (VSA)–and standard field or laboratory measurements. They conclude that under dry Mediterranean areas, ZT practices, especially when combined with the other conservation principles (i.e., crop rotation), ameliorate several SQ indicators already even after a 7-year period of adoption, allowing a positive trend for soil preservation.

Thisstudy study aimed to assess the performance of conservation agriculture (CA) on plant growth, and its impact on bacterial community composition, specifically guilds involved in nitrogen (N) cycling, in comparison to conventional (CT), and organic agriculture (OA) in pigeonpea in India.  Enhanced abundances of genes involved in the N cycle were observed under CA compared to CT and OA. CA had the highest alpha diversity at the phylum level, while CT had the lowest. The study emphasizes the significance of rhizospheric bacterial communities as ecological indicators for soil health in arable land.

This 4-year study objectives were (a) monitoring the changes in soil physical, biological and chemical properties and crop productivity, (b) development of a soil quality index-(SQI), and to monitor SQI changes against system productivity as a management goal, and (c) studying the changes in soil organic carbon-SOC in relation to annual C input. The 3 tillage practices were ZT, Permanent Beds (PB) and CT with 4 nutrient management treatments under a continuous maize-wheat-mungbean system in NW India. They conclude that adoption of CA with SSNM and Ad-hoc nutrient management in intensive cereal based systems of NW-IGP is essential for improving nutrient cycling, soil quality, crop productivity and C-sequestration potential.

This study evaluated the effect of CA on crop and water productivity, profitability, and soil carbon status in a rice-mustard (Brassica juncea L.) rotation in North-western IGP of India for five consecutive years. Eight treatments comprising of tillage, crop residue, brown manuring (BM) using Sesbania bispinosa, and summer mungbean were used. They conclude that the CA system being productive, profitable, and resource-efficient can be recommended for North-western IGP of India and in similar agro-ecologies of the tropics and sub-tropics. It can be adopted with suitable site-specific refinement in South-Asian countries, where decline in crop productivity and soil health is a consistent pervasive problem due to continuous cereal-cereal rotation.

This study looks at the benefits of CA practices over nine years in Malawi with maize and maize intercropped with groundnut. The treatments were farmer practice (FP), Pit planting+mulch (PPM), intercropping+mulch (INM)and mulching (MC). Maize yields were higher with CA practices than FP (4.0-4.4 vs 1.8 t/ha) and also improved soil properties. The land equivalent ratio for maize and groundnut intercropping in INM was 1.77, indicating beneficial intercropping efficiency. They conclude that CA interventions contribute to increased crop yield, income, and soil fertility restoration in the agricultural land but farmer adoption will depend on the farmer's intention.

Farmers adopting CA in Southern Africa have rarely fully implemented all its components, resulting in different combinations of no-tillage, crop rotation, and permanent soil cover being practiced, thus resulting in variable yield responses depending on climatic and soil conditions. This study used 8 locations in Southern Africa to evaluate how partial and full implementation of these components affected crop yield and yield stability compared with conventional tillage alone or combined with mulching and/or crop rotation. Across different environments, the addition of crop rotation and mulch to no-tillage increased maize grain by 6%, and the same practices added to conventional tillage led to 13% yield increase. Additive main effects and multiplicative interaction analysis allowed clarifying that mulch added to no-tillage gives stable yields on sandy soil with high rainfall. Similarly, mulch added to conventional tillage gives stable yield on sandy soil, but under low rainfall. The paper highlighted the crucial role of mulch to enhance the stability and resilience of cropping systems in southern Africa.

This study was chosen because it had peanuts growing under CA. This study evaluated the effects of different CA practices on soil moisture, soil fertility, yield, and profitability of peanut systems. Treatments consisted of four tillage practices (conventional tillage [CT], minimum tillage [MT], zero tillage [ZT], and rotary tillage [RT]); two residue management practices (residue removal [NR] and residue retention [RR]), and two intercropping systems peanut+pigeonpea [PP] and peanut+cotton [PC]. Minimum tillage and residue management practice RR improved soil moisture content, soil porosity, soil organic C, nutrient status (mainly at 0–15 cm), and soil enzymatic activities and decreased soil temperature variation and soil penetration resistance. Among the cropping systems, PP was found more productive and profitable as compared to PC. 

This paper looks at ways to improve the productivity of the rice-wheat system in the eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia. They evaluated the performance of three RW system intensification options with different management interventions over two years, comparing a conventional RW rotation (CS1), with two stages of conservation agriculture (CA) interventions, (i) the simple inclusion of mungbean (CS2), and (ii) the inclusion of mungbean together with full CA implementation (CS3) at two sites in the EGP that differed with respect to soil type, water table dynamics, and agro-climatic conditions. The addition of mungbean into the conventional RW rotation produced significantly higher system productivity (rice equivalent yield, REY) compared with the existing double-crop rotation across sites. The baseline system was enhanced further when CA-based management practices were adopted, however, the magnitude of system benefit from CA was site and situation-specific. 

This is a corrected manuscript for this article that looks at crop diversification and intercropping in CA systems that have a direct impact on nutritional status of farm households due to a more diverse diet. This study from 2012-2020 assesses how the integration of grain legumes, cowpeas and soybeans, in maize-based CA systems either as intercrops or rotational crops affects maize grain yield and stability, total energy yield, protein yield and surplus calories after satisfying the daily requirement per household. Results show that intercropping compromises maize yields with marginal yield penalties of −5% compared to no-till monocropping. However, intercropped yields were more stable across environments.Total system caloric energy and protein yield were highest in intercropping systems due to higher productivity per unit land area owing to the additive contribution of both maize and legumes. 

This study aimed to evaluate the long-term (23-yrs) effect of soil tillage systems and winter cover crops on (i) soil acidity, (ii) nutrient availability, and (iii) P and K budget in a subtropical Oxisol from Southern Brazil.They used 6 cover crops and CT vs NT. Continuous NT system for 23-years resulted in higher soil fertility in the topsoil (0–10cm) compared to CT, but with some limitations of nutrient availability and soil acidity below 10cm depth compared to CT. Surface application of lime in NT reduced soil acidity up to 20cm compared to CT. The budget of P was negative for all treatments, highlighting the P-sink behavior of this strongly weathered subtropical Oxisol. Among the cover crops tested, black oat stood out by its greater production of biomass, resulting in higher P and K availability in the soil surface.

The specific objective of this study was to develop soil quality indices with key soil physical, chemical and biological indicators under the conservation and conventional tillage practices in a rice–mustard systems in NW India. Eight treatment combinations including tillage and crop establishment, crop residue and cropping system intensification with inclusion of short duration summer mungbean were used. The highest SQI was obtained in the zero till direct seeded rice (ZTDSR) – zero till mustard (ZTM) –ZT summer mungbean (ZTSMB (+R). They conclude that the medium-term CA with triple or double zero tillage with crop residue retention maintains agricultural sustainability under the rice-mustard system and can be recommended to farmers for adoption.

This paper looks specifically at the impact of rotation in CA systems in Brazil. They looked at the profitability of of crop rotation systems with different levels of crop diversification. The treatments included one less diversified crop rotation system (control) with soybean and wheat and four more diversified crop rotation systems (involving three or more species), including soybean, wheat, black oats, maize, canola, barley, blue lupine, white oats, beans, radish, triticale, rye, hairy vetch, and sorghum, under no-tillage conducted during a three-year cycle. The results show that the more diversified crop rotation systems were more profitable.

This 5-year study looked at rice-wheat in NW India. The goal was to identify management options for further improving productivity and profitability and reducing environmental externalities by drawing on the principles of diversification, precision management, and conservation agriculture. There were four systems. 1. Business as usual transplanted rice followed by tilled wheat; 2. TP rice fb ZT wheat and ZT mungbean; 3. ZT for all 3 crops including ZTDS rice; ZT for a maize-wheat-mungbean system. Results showed that compared to business as usual, the other 3 systems were more productive. These latter 3 systems were more productive and profitable while using less water, energy, labor and lower global warming potential. They conclude these SI entry points need to be placed in the context of the major drivers of change in the region, including market conditions, risks, and declining labor availability, and matching with the needs and interests of different types of farmers.

This study reports on-farm trials from 5 countries over 7 years to assess the effects of different cropping systems on maize productivity. Cropping systems tested were conventional (CP) compared to various CA systems including ones with intercropping. The highest maize yield was from CA systems with groundnut (3609 kg ha−1) and common bean (3307−3576 kg ha−1) under rotation and intercropping practices, respectively. Maize-pigeon pea intercropping (35 %) and maize-groundnut rotation (31–43 %) under CA had the highest maize yield advantages over the conventional practices. The most stable maize yields were from the maize-common bean systems under CA. There is scope for promoting CA cropping systems integrated with grain and forage legumes to address maize productivity challenges on smallholder farms of ESA.

In this article, a meta-analysis of important studies was done for the impact of CA on carbon sequestration, water use, greenhouse gas emissions and cost and net returns. Carbon sequestration potential was found significantly higher in the CA practices (+16.30%) as compared to the conventional tillage. Inclusion of legumes, clay-rich soils, irrigation and presence of soil cover are the major drivers for higher carbon sequestration potential in the region. Additionally, a significant amount of water was also saved as CA practices led to relatively less consumption of water over the conventional tillage.They conclude that CA is a sustainable agricultural practice that deserves outscaling in South Asia for mitigation and adaptation of climate change.

The effects of contrasted cropping systems have been studied on upland rice yield and N uptake in rainfed conditions: conventional tillage (CT) and CA with a mulch of maize or a legume (Stylosanthes or velvet bean). This study used the "Decision Support Systems for Agrotechnology Transfer" (DSSAT) crop growth model to quantify the soil N balance according to the season and the cropping system in rainfed, upland rice in the hillsides of the Malagasy highlands. The model gave interesting results but the challenge is now to evaluate the model in less contrasted experimental conditions in order to validate its use for N uptake and yield prediction in support to the optimization and design of new cropping systems.