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VOL. 8, ISSUE 4 (2026)
Conservation Agriculture in Indian Agroecosystems: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Crop Productivity, Soil Carbon and Water-Use Efficiency
Authors
SR Kamlesh, Kiran Thakur, Soumen Bramha
Abstract
Conservation agriculture (CA), founded on minimum
soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop diversification, is promoted as
a pathway to improve agricultural productivity while conserving soil carbon and
water. This article synthesizes quantitative meta-analytic evidence and
selected long-term field studies relevant to Indian agroecosystems. A South
Asian meta-analysis based on 9,686 paired site-year comparisons reported that
zero tillage combined with residue retention was associated with a mean 5.8%
yield advantage and a 12.6% increase in water-use efficiency, while a
country-focused meta-analysis of 544 paired observations from 35 Indian
publications reported a 1.15% average yield reduction under CA compared with
conventional tillage, alongside increases of 8.9% in soil organic carbon (SOC)
content and 7.3% in soil carbon sequestration (Jat et al., 2020;
Padbhushan et al., 2024) [5, 10]. These results are not
necessarily contradictory: they differ in geography, eligible studies,
treatment definitions, cropping systems and moderators. Long-term evidence from
the middle Indo-Gangetic Plains also shows that diversified systems combining
reduced tillage and legumes can improve rice-equivalent productivity and water
productivity, although results are treatment-specific (Rao et al., 2022)
[12]. Across Indian studies, CA's most defensible benefits are improved
soil cover and structure, enhanced SOC indicators under sustained residue
inputs, and greater water productivity in well-matched systems. Yield effects
remain contingent on crop, soil texture, rainfall, nutrient supply, weed
management, duration and machinery access. This is a structured review of
published quantitative syntheses, not a newly recalculated study-level
meta-analysis: a de novo pooled estimate was not produced because harmonized
raw data and a complete database screening log were not assembled for this
draft. The review therefore reports published estimates separately and outlines
the protocol needed for a fully reproducible submission.
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Pages:136-141
How to cite this article:
SR Kamlesh, Kiran Thakur, Soumen Bramha "Conservation Agriculture in Indian Agroecosystems: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Crop Productivity, Soil Carbon and Water-Use Efficiency". International Journal of Agriculture and Plant Science, Vol 8, Issue 4, 2026, Pages 136-141
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