Maize and wheat are the most important crop grown in sequence largely under rainfed conditions, with low inputs and traditional practices in the outer western Himalayan region of India. Deficiency of moisture and nutrients is primarily responsible for low productivity of these crops. The conventional practices for alleviating these stresses such as summer ploughing, use of organics, intercropping with legumes, mulching, haloding (interculturing), earthing-up and ploughing immediately after harvesting of maize are gradually being discontinued by the farmers due to various emerging problems. This article reviews the effects of tillage and mulching on moisture conservation and nutrient use in the maize-wheat cropping system. Field studies at different locations of this region have shown the beneficial effects of resource conserving technologies for improving productivity of maize and following wheat. The results have suggested that the conventional repetitive tillage operations including deep ploughing can be dispensed with, and equally good or even higher yields can be obtained with minimum or zero tillage along with mulching or residue management practices over a period due to improved soil environment. Live mulching with weeds, annual legumes or pruned biomass of perennial legumes in alley cropping systems are beneficial for efficient conservation of soil, moisture and nutrients for higher productivity in maize-wheat cropping system. There is a need for adopting diversified farming systems approach for improving productivity of crops as well as other enterprises for greater livelihood security of the farming community in this region.
