Conservation Agriculture for Carbon Sequestration and Sustaining Soil Health

This book contains 41 chapters that cover a wide range of topics related to conservation agriculture practices in various regions, with a particular focus on rainfed areas. The authors aim to provide a comprehensive resource for researchers, scientists, students, farmers, and land managers, to support the efficient and sustainable management of natural resources. The book emphasizes the importance of conservation agriculture and its potential to address pressing environmental and social issues.

J. Somasundaram was born on 1974 in Uthukottai, Trivallore District (Tamil Nadu); He has graduated from Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India in 1995. He has completed post-graduation (1998) and doctorate (2001) in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (India). For doctoral research he has been awarded two gold medals for best research and thesis. After completion of Ph.D, he was selected as scientist through Agricultural Research Service (ARS) by ASRB under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and worked for 7 years (2001-2008) in Central Soil Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI) under Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan (India). Presently (from Dec 2008 to till date), he is working as Senior Scientist in the Division of Soil Physics, Indian Institute of Soil Science (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (India). He has 12 years of experience in research and training in the field of natural resource management and conservation agriculture. He also has good expertise in 'Soil conservation and watershed management' and published 20 research papers in peer reviewed journals, 2 review papers, authored 2 books, one technology folder and also having more than 10 conference papers in both national and international repute.

R. S. Chaudhary was born on 1966 in Distt. Kangra of Himachal Pradesh is Principal Scientist and Head of Division at Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal. He completed his graduation (1987), post graduation in Agriculture (1990) and Ph.D. (Honours) in Soil Science (1993) from CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh (India). His doctoral thesis was on 'Soil Erosion Assessment and Conservation needs of Giri river Catchment in Himachal Pradesh'. He joined Agricultural Research Services (ARS) in Nov 1993 under Indian Council of Agricultural Research as Scientist at Central Soil & water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun and its research Centre Sunabeda, Koraput, Orissa. In 1998 he joined as senior scientist at IISS, Bhopal, and in 2007 as Principal Scientist at the same Institute. He has worked on various research tasks of soil and water conservation, watershed development, catchment survey and planning, efficient management of water and nutrients, soil surface manipulations, conservation tillage, land configurations, and quantification of runoff and soil losses, in various soils and cropping systems of India. As enthusiastic researcher and critical reviewer he has a number of research papers in national and international journals, book chapters, review articles, popular articles, and bulletins to his credit. Presently he is involved in the research projects on conservation agriculture, climate change, assessment of soil quality and soil resilience. He has received prestigious Doreen Mashler Team Award by ICRISAT, in 2006 and Bharat Jyoti Award in 2012 by IIFS, New Delhi.

Dr. A. Subba Rao was born in Ravulapuram, Guntur district on 1 May 1952. He obtained B.Sc. (Ag.) in 1973 and M.Sc. (Ag.) in 1976 from A.P. Agricultural University, Agriculture College, Bapatla. He did his Ph.D. in Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 1980. After completing his Ph.D., he served as a Research Associate for 9 months at Mesta Research Station, Amadalavalasa, Srikakulam District, A.P and later he served as Assistant Professor in A.P. Agricultural University, Agriculture College, Bapatla during 1980-84. He worked as a Soil Scientist during 1984-89 at Potash Research Institute of India, Gurgaon and later he joined ICAR as Principal Scientist (1989-1997); Project Co-ordinator- STCR (1997-2004) and Director (2004 to till date) at Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal. He has immensely contributed as Scientist, Research Manager and Administrator. He has made significant contribution in the field of, delineating and mapping of potassium resources of the country; potassium and phosphorus chemistry and fertility; integrated plant nutrient recommendations; and soil test based nutrient management for achieving targeted yields of crops. Developed and field tested farmers resource based integrated nutrient supply systems (INPS) in some agro-ecological regions. As Director at IISS, Bhopal, he initiated several national and international collaborative research projects, NAIP Projects, NICRA, central and state governmentfunded projects in the areas of soil health, climate change, nanotechnology, biofortification and biodiversity. He has more than 100 research papers to his credentials in reputed national and international journals in the field of specialization of 'Soil chemistry, soil fertility, soil testing, integrated nutrient management'. Also, he published and edited several books, book chapters, review and popular articles. He has travelled to a number of countries abroad including Germany, France, England, Philippines, Switzerland and Australia. He has received several awards and honours for his contribution in the field of Potassium and balanced nutrition of crops; IPNS and balanced nutrition of crops; Phosphorus and Sulphur Nutrition like FAI Silver Jubilee Award of Excellence (1989, 2008); PRII Award (1991); PPIC-FAI Award (1997); IPI-FAI Award (1998); IMPHOS-FAI Award (2003) and TSI-FAI Award (2006). He is a Fellow Indian Society of Soil Science (FISSS), Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Science (FNAAS) during 2001 and Fellow of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal.

K. M. Hati, Soil Scientist with Specialization in Soil Physics has graduated from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, West Bengal in 1991. He did his M. Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in 1993 and 1996, respectively from the Division of Agricultural Physics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He received ICAR junior and Senior Research Fellowship for continuing his M Sc and Ph D programme. After completion of his doctoral degree he joined Agricultural Research Service of ICAR at Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh as Scientist in 1996. Presently he is working as Senior Scientist at IISS, Bhopal in the Division of Soil Physics. He has more than 20 years of experience in research and training in the field of Soil Physics, remote sensing and conservation agriculture. During his period of service he has worked on conservation agriculture, carbon sequestration mechanisms, soil quality, water and nutrient dynamics. He also worked on application of remote sensing principles for improving input use efficiency. He published more than 25 peer reviewed research papers in international and 20 papers in national journals of repute. Besides this, he also authored 2 books, 8 book chapters, 10 review articles and 6 papers in national and international conference proceedings. He also received two awards from professional societies and Associate Fellowship from National Academy of Agricultural Research.

Nishant K. Sinha, Agricultural Physicist and graduated from Institute of Agricultural Sciencies, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India in 2005. He has completed post-graduation (2007) and doctorate (2010) from Division of Agricultural Physics, IARI, New Delhi. During his M. Sc. and PhD, he was awarded with ICAR and CSIR fellowship. After Completion of Ph.D, he was selected as a scientist through Agricultural Research Service (ARS) by ASRB Under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Presently, he is working as scientist in the division of Soil Physics, Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He has published 10 research papers in peer reviewed journals and authored 2 books. He also has good expertise in crop root dynamics, crop simulation modeling and water productivity.

N. Vassanda Coumar, Soil Scientist with specialization on Environmental Soil Science has graduated from PAJANCOA& RI during 1998. He has completed his post-graduation (2001) and PhD (2004) in the Premier Institute of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. After completion of Ph.D, initially he joined Birla Institute of Technology (BITS, Mesra), Jaipur as a lecturer and served for about three and half years in teaching. Then he shifted to Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers limited (RCFL), Mumbai as a Research Officer in the R & D Laboratory and actively involved in developing and testing soil and crop specific customized fertilizers for about two years. Later he has been selected as a Scientist through Agricultural Research Service of ICAR and posted at Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh during 2010. He has 8 years of experience in teaching and research in the field of soil & water pollution and soil quality assessment. He has published 10 research papers in peer reviewed journals, 1 review papers and also having more than 10 conference papers in both national and international level.