Conservation agriculture combined with subsurface drip irrigation can significantly improve wheat grain protein content while increasing crop yields and reducing water and nitrogen requirements, according to a decade-long study by researchers from ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and SARO, Kathmandu, Nepal.
The study found that integrating conservation agriculture (CA) with precise water and nitrogen management through subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) increased wheat grain protein content by 11.8-12.3% compared with conventional farmers' practices.
