Jagadish Timsina

• Ph.D.
• Managing Director at University of Melbourne; Hamro Institute of Business Technology, Sydney

The study which aims at the evaluation of conservation tillage and to identify appropriate management options for dry seeded rice (DSR) under conservation tillage system was carried out at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Regional station, Rajshahi during wet season of 2010 and 2011. The experiment was laid out in split plot design wi...

During the last few decades, extensive use of herbicides have created several environmental problems including supremacy of minor weeds due to its survival ability against herbicides, and also human health hazards. Considering the significant problem, an experiment was conducted in two consecutive wheat seasons for evaluating five weed control meth...

Puddled transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.) followed by intensively tilled wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (R–W) is the most predominant cropping system and the lifeline for billions of people in South Asia. The cultivation of R–W system requires high amounts of water, nutrients and energy, resulting in increased production costs and increased emissio...

PurposeThis study was conducted to design, construct, and test a two-wheeled power tiller multi-row weeder (MRW) for effective weed control in wheat production field and other narrow-row crops. This concept was conceived from the high cost and labour-intensive methods required for hand weeding (HW) and the restrictions in chemical weed control born...

Despite significant progress in increasing agricultural production, meeting the changing dietary preferences and increasing food demands of future populations remain significant challenges. This is especially the case in developing countries. Climate change and variability, unstable markets, and shrinking arable land resources that result from urba...

Nursery management Robust seedlings System of rice intensification Water use A B S T R A C T Rice (Oryza sativa L.) production in South Asia is increasingly threatened by the erratic nature of onset of monsoon rain and climate change. Wide variation in rainfall pattern affects the timing of nursery raising and transplanting later in the main field....

Bangladesh is a small country, but with the world 8th largest populated country in the world. While, as Bangladesh is a deltaic country, it faces huge challenges in achieving food security. Since, except southern coastal saline region, there is no room for expanding agricultural land, as most of the suitable land is already under cultivation. Even...

Farmers’ conventional tillage (CT) and residue removal practices in rice (Oryza sativa L.)-maize (Zea mays L.) systems in South Asia’s Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) are input-intensive, costly, and soil degradative. We conducted a rice-maize-mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) (R-M-MB) system experiment with six tillage and three residue-manageme...

Farmers in Bangladesh are always seeking an optimal seed rate to reduce production costs and increase wheat yield. The Wheat Research Centre (WRC) of Bangladesh has developed new wheat varieties over several years. To reduce production costs and obtain higher grain yield (GY) from these varieties, optimum seeding rates are needed. In this context,...

Inherently poor soil fertility and non-adoption of fertilizer recommendations based on soil test and yield targets by farmers limit the productivity and profitability from monsoon rice in Bangladesh. In the Level Barind Tract (LBT; AEZ-25) and the High Ganges River Floodplain (HGR; AEZ-11) agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Bangladesh, monsoon (aman/k...

The present study assesses the response of hybrid rice (variety Arize 6444) to potassium (K) application during rainy (wet) seasons of 2016 and 2017 in coastal saline soils of West Bengal, India. The study was conducted at the Regional Research Farm, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kakdwip, West Bengal. The soil is clayeywith acidic pH (5.91)...

Abstract Background and Objective: Climate models indicate that temperatures across the globe will increase impacting on food security. Therefore, it is important to develop wheat cultivars that are heat-tolerant and are suitable for cultivation under a changing climate. Theobjectives of this study were to examine the accuracy of different Stress T...

It is important to identify and develop stable wheat varieties that can grow under heat stress. This important issue was addressed in Bangladesh using six wheat genotypes, including three existing elite cultivars (‘BARI Gom 26’, ‘BARI Gom 27’, ‘BARI Gom 28’) and three advanced lines (‘BAW 1130’, ‘BAW 1138’, ‘BAW 1140’). Six sowing dates, namely ear...

Meeting global demand of safe and healthy food for the ever-increasing population now and into the future is currently a crucial challenge. Increasing crop production by preserving environment and mitigating climate change should thus be the main goal of today’s agriculture. Conventional farming is characterized by use of high-yielding varieties, i...

Fertigation has the potential to reduce extra chemical load by improving nutrient and water use efficiency of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), but studies demonstrating the fertilizer reduction through drip irrigation in comparison to conventional ring basin method are rare in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) of South Asia. A long-term field exper...

Increased nutrient withdrawal by rapidly expanding intensive cropping systems, in combination with imbalanced fertilization, is leading to potassium (K) depletion from agricultural soils in Asia. There is an urgent need to better understand the soil K-supplying capacity and K-use efficiency of crops to address this issue. Maize is increasingly bein...

Increased nutrient withdrawal by rapidly expanding intensive cropping systems, in combination with imbalanced fertilization, is leading to potassium (K) depletion from agricultural soils in Asia. There is an urgent need to better understand the soil K-supplying capacity and K-use efficiency of crops to address this issue. Maize is increasingly bein...

Increasing cropping intensification in the southern saline region of Bangladesh is a national priority; however, increased intensification should not be at the cost of exploiting the precious groundwater resources. The best strategy for increasing intensification is through using saline water for irrigation wherever and/or whenever it is possible....

In South Asia, including Bangladesh, most farmers sow wheat under residual soil moisture after rice is harvested, but the upper layer of soil dries quickly after soil has been prepared for wheat sowing. Crop seeds that are sown either deeply or shallowly can result in failed emergence, low dry matter accumulation, and reduced grain yield. Therefore...

Locally adapted seeds are essential heritage that has the potential to be lost with the current hybridized crops and GMOs. Locally adapted seeds also called Landraces or crop eco-types are important because they have adapted over time to the specific micro-climates, soils, other environmental conditions, field designs and ethnic preference indigeno...

The poster summarizes the results of on-farm trials conducted in Jhapa and Morang districts for validation of Nutrient Expert (NE) Tool in rice, maize and wheat.

Yield gap analyses of individual crops have been used to estimate opportunities for increasing crop production at local to global scales, thus providing information crucial to food security. However, increases in crop production can also be achieved by improving cropping system yield through modification of spatial and temporal arrangement of indiv...

Consumptive water footprint (WF) reduction in irrigated crop production is essential given the increasing competition for freshwater. The calculated green, blue and grey water footprints of paddy rice are converted into estimations of the green, blue and grey water footprints of derived rice products on the basis of product and value fractions. Int...

Bangladesh faces huge challenges in achieving food security due to its high population, diet changes, and limited room for expanding cropland and cropping intensity. The objective of this study is to assess the degree to which Bangladesh can be self-sufficient in terms of domestic maize, rice and wheat production by the years 2030 and 2050 by closi...

Nitrogen (N) in plants is generally diagnosed by a soil test and plant tissue analysis. However, such analyses are costly in terms of time and money and are not easily accessible by researchers and extension workers, let alone farmers. Alternative cost-effective methods are required for rapid analysis of the N status of crops and to guide N managem...

A field experiment was conducted during the two consecutive kharif seasons of 2011 and 2012 on sandy-loam lateritic soil of Indian subtropics to investigate the impact of integrated nutrient management (INM) on crop productivity, nutrient use efficiency of applied nutrients and soil fertility in restoring sustainability with hybrid rice cultivation...

Sustaining rice (Oryza sativa L.) productivity at high level is a great challenge, particularly in areas where rice productivity declines in spite of following recommended nutrient management practices. Nutrient management by integrating organic manures, inorganic fertilizers and biofertilizers may play an important role in improving and sustaining...

The Green Revolution of 1960s and 70s has brought about enormous positive impacts on livelihood of farming community in agriculture based economy of developing countries, however, Nepal was left far behind to reap that benefit. Improved crop varieties, fertilizer, irrigation, modern pest control and mechanization are essential inputs in order to ex...

Continuous rice–wheat (RW) cropping with intensive tillage has resulted in land degradation and inefficient use of water in Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of South Asia. Replacement of rice with less water requiring crops such as soybean in RW system and identification of effective strategies for tillage management could result in sustainable cropping...

Abbreviations and notes: N = nitrogen; P = phosphorus; K = potassium; S = sulfur; Fe = iron; Mn = manganese; Zn = zinc; NH 4 + = ammonium; K ex = soil exchangeable K; AE N , AE P AE K = Agronomic effi ciency of N, P, or K. INDIA & BANGLADESH R ice-maize (R-M) systems are vital to meet food requirements and improve food security for a large number o...

Bangladesh is an extremely land scarce country. Any improvement of rice yield has significant impact on the overall food security of the country. Hybrid rice is one of the viable and proven technologies that have been considered as a new frontier to increase rice production. Performance of two new exotic hybrid rice genotypes from India BIO-404 and...

Potassium (K) availability in soils is largely governed by their mineralogical composition. The ex-tent of weathering of primary K-bearing minerals, the chemical pathways through which weath-ering takes place, as well as the dynamic equilibrium between various K fractions in soils are factors which determine different soil types of varying K-supply...

Potassium (K) availability in soils is largely governed by their mineralogical composition. The ex-tent of weathering of primary K-bearing minerals, the chemical pathways through which weath-ering takes place, as well as the dynamic equilibrium between various K fractions in soils are factors which determine different soil types of varying K-supply...

Dry-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) (DSR) is an emerging production system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains because of increasing constraints of labor, water, and energy availability. Studies on dry-matter partitioning and nitrogen-use efficiency (ANUE) are particularly important for developing high-yielding cultivars for this new production system. We in...

Because of increasing constraints of labor and water availability, dry-seeded rice (DSR) is now considered to be a new and emerging rice production system in the northwest Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. However, limited information is available on optimizing nutrient and water management in DSR to produce high yields. The effects of four amounts of...

Water shortages in many rice-growing regions, combined with growing global imperatives to increase food production, are driving research into increased water use efficiency and modified agricultural practices in rice-based cropping systems. Well-tested cropping systems models that capture interactions between soil water and nutrient dynamics, crop...

Photosynthetic aquatic biomass (PAB – algae and other floodwater flora) is a significant source of organic carbon (C) in rice-based cropping systems. A portion of PAB is capable of fixing nitrogen (N), and is hence also a source of N for crop nutrition. To account for this phenomenon in long term simulation studies of rice-based cropping systems, t...

No-tillage and raised beds are widely used for different crops in developed countries. A field experiment was conducted on an irrigated maize-wheat system to study the effect of field layout, tillage and straw mulch on crop performance, water use efficiency and economics for five years (2003–2008) in northwest India. Straw mulch reduced the maximum...

Accurate estimation of the size and spatial distribution of the yield gap has many practical applications, including relevance to precision agriculture and technology targeting. The objectives of this study were to illustrate a methodology to create a yield gap map and to discuss its potential uses to provide optimal crop management recommendations...

Rice and wheat are the staple foods for almost the entire Asian population and therefore they occupy a premium position among all food commodities. The era of the Green Revolution started during the early 1970s with wheat and rice and since then the rice-wheat cropping system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains has played a significant role in the food sec...

Rice and wheat are the staple foods for almost the entire Asian population and therefore they occupy a premium position among all food commodities. The era of the Green Revolution started during the early 1970s with wheat and rice and since then the rice-wheat cropping system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains has played a significant role in the food sec...

Gains or losses in grain yield and water-use efficiency of aerobic direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) must be considered before promoting this technology in areas where this is not common. In the northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of South Asia, irrigation water for rice production is becoming scarce because of depleting surface and groundwa...

Field experiments were conducted at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India, during 2007–2008 to examine if nitrogen (N) rates and weed management practices using herbicides in combination with hand-weeding (HW) can improve crop competitiveness against weeds, and increase the yield, water productivity and profitability of direct-seeded...

Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package/practices and improved package/practices was conducted in Birbhum district, West Bengal, located in the red and lateritic belt of lower Gangetic plain of eastern India. Diversified triple cropping systems (peanut-brinjal+brinjal, rice-potato-pumpkin, and c...

A field experiment was conducted from 2002-2005 on a sandy clay loam red and lateritic soil under irrigation in a farmer's field at Senkapur (Lat. 23°36.79′ N, Long. 87°38.14′ E, Elev. 46 m AMSL), Birbhum, West Bengal, India. The objective was to provide the temporal changes of weed diversity and density, ecology, and impact of rotational cropping...

Economic analysis of different diversified rotational cropping systems under Farmers' package/practices and improved package/practices was conducted in Birbhum district, West Bengal, located in the red and lateritic belt of lower Gangetic plain of eastern India. Diversified triple cropping systems (peanut-brinjal+brinjal, rice-potato-pumpkin, and c...

A field experiment was conducted from 2002-2005 on a sandy clay loam red and lateritic soil under irrigation in a farmer's field at Senkapur (Lat. 23°36.79′ N, Long. 87°38.14′ E, Elev. 46 m AMSL), Birbhum, West Bengal, India. The objective was to provide the temporal changes of weed diversity and density, ecology, and impact of rotational cropping...

Raised beds have been proposed for rice–wheat (RW) cropping systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plains as a means of increasing irrigation water productivity, among many other potential benefits. Field experiments were carried out in Punjab, India, during 2002–2006 to compare irrigation water use and productivity of transplanted rice and drill-sown wheat...

A literature survey and focused interviews with experienced agronomists and socio-economists from south, east, and southeast Asian countries were conducted to determine physical and economic relationships of cereal yields and N use, using partial factor productivity (PFP) and nitrogen (N) response functions, while considering the impacts of (N) and...

Recent trends of climate change have raised serious concerns about the food production not only in regional levels but locally and globally. The well calibrated and validated Crop Simulation Model (CSM)-Crop Environment Resource Synthesis (CERES)-Maize (v 4.0) model and secondary crop data were used to test sensitivity of this model in sub-tropical...

Raised beds are widely used in agriculture in developed countries and have proven to be an excellent option for wheat. Permanent raised beds may also offer benefits for rice–wheat (RW) systems in South Asia, in terms of both production and the possibility that furrow-irrigation may be more efficient than flood irrigation. The performance of a RW sy...

Early planting of rice crop during the period of peak evaporative demand results in substantial mining of ground water and threats the sustainability of rice production in Punjab, northwest India. In order to increase yield and water productivity, arrest the mining of ground water, and achieve sustainability of rice production, there is need to ado...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) and maize (Zey mays) are grown in 3.5 million hectares (Mha) in Asia that includes 1.5Mha in South Asia. These crops are grown in sequence on the same land in the same year either in double–or triple-crop systems to meet the rice demand of a rapidly expanding human population and maize demand of livestock and poultry. The obj...

Maize-rice cropping systems are expanding in Bangladesh. Hybrid maize has increasing demand and value, particularly for poultry feed, while rice remains the traditional dominant starch staple food. Bangladesh maize yields (with average farm yields around 5.7 t·ha-1) are among the highest found in Asia. Cool winter (Rabi) season maize followed by T....

Components of the water balance and soil water dynamics of a rice–wheat (RW) cropping system were compared for conventional tillage on the flat, and in fresh and permanent beds, over 4 years in Punjab, India. Detailed studies were undertaken in replicated small plots on sandy loam and loam soils, and in large blocks (farmer field size) on the loam....

The DSSAT-CSM-CERES-Wheat V4.0 model was calibrated for yield and irrigation scheduling of wheat with 2004–2005 data and validated with 13 independent data sets from experiments conducted during 2002–2006 at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) farm, Ludhiana, and in a farmer's field near PAU at Phillaur, Punjab, India. Subsequently, the valida...

Responding to demand from expanding poultry feed markets, maize area in Bangladesh rose from only a few thousand hectares in the 1980s to more than 200,000 hectares in 2007-08. This publication describes the rise of maize in Bangladesh, emerging problems or risks, technology options for rice-maize systems, and future research and development needs....

Introduction The demand for maize in Asia is expected to grow in the next 20 years mainly driven by the growth of the livestock and poultry feed industry as regional income increase and Asian consumers shift towards animal-based diets. The rapid expansion of the biofuel industry in recent years and high fossil energy costs also influence global mai...

Indigenous forage species, such as Eleusine indica could be an alternative to solve the problem of green roughage scarcity in Nepal. A study with E. indica was conducted to determine the re-growth and feeding value in Chitwan, Nepal during the dry season in 2002/2003. A field trial was carried out in a split plot design with nitrogen fertilizer rat...

Insect feeding on leaves, pods, and seeds causes significant yield loss in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Robust soybean growth models would be helpful to simulate the effect of defoliation or depodding on soybean growth and yield. The objective of this study was to evaluate the CROPGRO-Soybean model for its ability to predict the impacts of ins...

There is a great scope of using crop simulation models in improving research understanding, improving decisions in crop management, and in improving policy and strategic planning. However, all crop models need to be calibrated, validated, and evaluated before using them for intended applications. Evaluations of models and datasets used for their ca...