Long-term conservation agriculture influences ecosystem service in maize- wheat cropping system in the north-western Indo- Gangetic Plain

As conventional agriculture faces several issues like water and labor crises, extensive land degradation, poor soil fertility, climate change, and increasing pressure on available agricultural land to population, in the recent, conservation agriculture (CA) is being promoted as a sustainable production technology. Many studies quantified ecosystem services (ES) in different agriculture practices but limited information is available on the impact of CA based practices on ES under maize-wheat cropping system of tropical agro-ecosystems. The study objective was to quantify the ES and disservices (DES) obtained from long-term (13-years) CA practices. Four ecosystem services (ES), i.e., provisioning, regulating, supporting, cultural services and ecosystem disservices (EDS) was assessed under maize-wheat rotation of tropical agro-ecosystems. The treatments were conventional tillage (CT), zero tillage with planting on flat land with residue (ZR + R), permanent broad beds with residue (PBB + R), permanent narrow beds with residue (PNB + R). The ES was quantified through the economic value of provisioning services, regulating services, supporting services, cultural services and EDS. The economic value of provisioning ES ranged from US$ 3105.6 ha−1 (CT) to US$ 3841.9 ha−1 (PBB + R). The CA-based practices recorded 16.2−23.7 % higher value of provisioning ES values as compared to CT. The highest economic value of regulating ES was observed under PBB + R, which was 61.1 % higher than that of CT. The economic value for SOC accumulation comprised maximum share (90.4–91.6 %) in total regulating ES value. The economic value of total ES (TES) from maize-wheat rotation was 43.0 % higher under PBB + R than that of CT. The economic value of marketed ES (MES) represents only 42.6–49.3 % of the economic value of the TES provided by maize-wheat rotation. PBB + R is a better management alternative for better TES while ensuring higher crop productivity than CT. The results can be used to formulate the payment for ecosystem scheme by the policy makers.