Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics
Negative environmental outcomes and poor economic returns often questioned the sustainability of conventional agricultural production systems. Hence, a field experiment was conducted by involving two land configurations: flat-bed (FB) and raised bed and furrow (RBF) in main plots, and four cereal-le...
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Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Cleaner Engineering and Technology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790825001399 |
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| author | Aastika Pandey Subhash Babu Sanjay Singh Rathore P.K. Upadhyay Rajiv K. Singh Md Yeasin Rishi Raj Kapila Shekhawat Khushboo Devi Vipin Kumar Ananya Gairola Devideen Yadav Raghavendra Singh |
| author_facet | Aastika Pandey Subhash Babu Sanjay Singh Rathore P.K. Upadhyay Rajiv K. Singh Md Yeasin Rishi Raj Kapila Shekhawat Khushboo Devi Vipin Kumar Ananya Gairola Devideen Yadav Raghavendra Singh |
| author_sort | Aastika Pandey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Negative environmental outcomes and poor economic returns often questioned the sustainability of conventional agricultural production systems. Hence, a field experiment was conducted by involving two land configurations: flat-bed (FB) and raised bed and furrow (RBF) in main plots, and four cereal-legume integrations in sub-plots: maize-wheat, maize + black gram + soybean-wheat + chickpea, maize + cowpea + soybean-wheat + lentil, and maize + cowpea + soybean-wheat + mustard in three times replicated split-plot design to develop the sustainable production model for balancing productivity, economics and environmental outcomes. The raised bed and furrow demonstrated 5.5–6 % higher system productivity over the flatbed. Likewise, integrating cereals with legumes enhanced system productivity by 2–2.5 times over the maize-wheat system. Concerning environmental indicators, the raised bed and furrow system had significantly higher energy use efficiency (8.29 %) and energy productivity (1.54 kg MJ−1) over a flatbed. Among the cereal-legume integrations, the maize + cowpea + soybean – wheat + mustard system registered the highest energy productivity and the lowest specific energy and demonstrated 2.26 times greater energy productivity and 41.35 % lower specific energy over the maize-wheat system. Cereal-legume integration reduces the carbon footprint by 2.5–3 times over the maize-wheat system. The maize + cowpea + soybean – wheat + mustard and maize + cowpea + soybean – wheat + lentil had ∼90.7 % higher eco-efficiency index (EEI) over the maize-wheat. Overall study inferred that the concurrent cultivation of cereals and legumes on raised beds and furrows is the most viable option for maximizing economic outputs and minimizing the environmental footprints in humid subtropics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2d25c77b82ef4780b028a770e9e1d222 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2666-7908 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cleaner Engineering and Technology |
| spelling | doaj-art-2d25c77b82ef4780b028a770e9e1d2222025-08-20T03:28:41ZengElsevierCleaner Engineering and Technology2666-79082025-07-012710101610.1016/j.clet.2025.101016Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropicsAastika Pandey0Subhash Babu1Sanjay Singh Rathore2P.K. Upadhyay3Rajiv K. Singh4Md Yeasin5Rishi Raj6Kapila Shekhawat7Khushboo Devi8Vipin Kumar9Ananya Gairola10Devideen Yadav11Raghavendra Singh12Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, India; Corresponding author.Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaDivision of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, IndiaICAR-Indian Institute of Soil & Water Conservation Research, UK, Dehradun, 248003, IndiaICAR- Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Modipuram, UP, 250 110, IndiaNegative environmental outcomes and poor economic returns often questioned the sustainability of conventional agricultural production systems. Hence, a field experiment was conducted by involving two land configurations: flat-bed (FB) and raised bed and furrow (RBF) in main plots, and four cereal-legume integrations in sub-plots: maize-wheat, maize + black gram + soybean-wheat + chickpea, maize + cowpea + soybean-wheat + lentil, and maize + cowpea + soybean-wheat + mustard in three times replicated split-plot design to develop the sustainable production model for balancing productivity, economics and environmental outcomes. The raised bed and furrow demonstrated 5.5–6 % higher system productivity over the flatbed. Likewise, integrating cereals with legumes enhanced system productivity by 2–2.5 times over the maize-wheat system. Concerning environmental indicators, the raised bed and furrow system had significantly higher energy use efficiency (8.29 %) and energy productivity (1.54 kg MJ−1) over a flatbed. Among the cereal-legume integrations, the maize + cowpea + soybean – wheat + mustard system registered the highest energy productivity and the lowest specific energy and demonstrated 2.26 times greater energy productivity and 41.35 % lower specific energy over the maize-wheat system. Cereal-legume integration reduces the carbon footprint by 2.5–3 times over the maize-wheat system. The maize + cowpea + soybean – wheat + mustard and maize + cowpea + soybean – wheat + lentil had ∼90.7 % higher eco-efficiency index (EEI) over the maize-wheat. Overall study inferred that the concurrent cultivation of cereals and legumes on raised beds and furrows is the most viable option for maximizing economic outputs and minimizing the environmental footprints in humid subtropics.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790825001399Eco-efficiencyEnergy productivitySystem productivityLegumes |
| spellingShingle | Aastika Pandey Subhash Babu Sanjay Singh Rathore P.K. Upadhyay Rajiv K. Singh Md Yeasin Rishi Raj Kapila Shekhawat Khushboo Devi Vipin Kumar Ananya Gairola Devideen Yadav Raghavendra Singh Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics Cleaner Engineering and Technology Eco-efficiency Energy productivity System productivity Legumes |
| title | Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics |
| title_full | Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics |
| title_fullStr | Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics |
| title_short | Designing sustainable agricultural production model: Balancing food, economy, and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics |
| title_sort | designing sustainable agricultural production model balancing food economy and environmental outcomes in humid subtropics |
| topic | Eco-efficiency Energy productivity System productivity Legumes |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790825001399 |
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