Maize based cropping systems

• Maize has wide adaptability and compatibility under diverse soil and climatic conditions.

• It is cultivated in sequence with different

crops under various agro-ecologies of the country

• Among different maize based cropping systems

o Maize-wheat ranks 1st having 1.8 m ha area mainly concentrated in rainfed ecologies.

Related Information

Agro-ecological/climatic zoning (AEZ)

It defines zones on the basis of combinations of soil, landform and climatic characteristics. The particular parameters used in the definition focus attention on the climatic and edaphic requirements of crops and on the management systems under which the crops are grown. Each zone has a similar combination of constraints and potentials for land use and serves as a focus for the targeting of recommendations designed to improve the existing land-use situation, either through increasing production or by limiting land degradation.

With the 329 million hectares of the geographical area the country presents a large number of complex agro- climatic situations. Several attempts have been made to delineate major agro-ecological regions in India for macro-level planning on a more scientific basis. They are as follows.

♤ Agro-climatic regions by the Planning Commission

♤ Agro-climatic zones under National Agricultural Research Project (NARP)

♤ Agro-ecological regions by the National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning (NBSS & LUP)

o Maize-wheat is the 3rd most important cropping systems (after rice-wheat and rice-rice that contributes about 3 % in the national food basket.)

Rice-maize has emerged a potential maize-based cropping system in peninsular and eastern India. Compared to existing cropping systems like rice-wheat and rice-rice, maize based cropping systems are better user of available resources and the water use efficiency of maize based cropping systems is about 100 to 200 % higher at different locations.