A five-year study (2001 to 2006) was undertaken in semiarid regions to identify the cropping systems which may be more remunerative, ecofriendly and sustainable over existing cropping systems and are farmer-friendly, so that they may be convinced to shift to the new cropping systems to maintain soil health and get increased returns. The study indicated that pearlmilletpotato- green gram was the most profitable and efficient cropping system over prevalent cropping systems, viz., cotton-wheat and pearlmillet-wheat. It gave wheat equivalent yield of 18,340.1 kg ha–1 and profitability of 56,012.8, while the same values for cotton-wheat and pearlmillet-wheat were 9,942.2 and 7,129.3 kg ha–1 and 44,269.6 and 34,374.4 ha–1, respectively. The cropping system soybean-wheat-cowpea (fodder) was better than pearlmillet-wheat cropping system in terms of both crop yield and profit, while the wheat equivalent yield in soybean-wheat-cowpea (fodder) was 9,725.5 kg ha–1. Under comparatively less availability of irrigation water, pearlmillet-mustard was found to be a promising cropping system with wheat equivalent yield of 6,851.5 kg ha–1 and profitability of 31,100. Pearlmilletfieldpea- maize (fodder) cropping system performed poorly over a period of six years. The field occupancy for more period in a year in a developing country like India is desirable to avoid underemployment in agriculture, and the cropping system, viz., cotton-wheat and soybean-wheat-cowpea (fodder) had more than 300 days occupancy in a year, and therefore, the farmers become busy for more period. The Land Use Efficiency (LUE) was around 60% in sorghum (fodder)-wheat, pearlmillet-mustard and pearlmillet-wheat, while it was close to 90% in soybean-wheat-cowpea (fodder), and cotton-wheat. The Evapotranspiration (ET) in different cropping systems varied between 451.8 and 978.2 mm being minimum in pearlmilletmustard and highest in soybean-wheat-cowpea(fodder) cropping system. The water productivity was comparatively very high (20.6 kg ha–1mm–1) in pearlmillet-potato-green gram and was followed by pearlmillet-mustard cropping system with 15.2 kg ha–1mm–1.

To manage soil health, water and other natural resources, diversification in agriculture is a continuous process in all types of soils in general, and in low and medium fertility soils in particular (Yadav et al., 2000; Panda, 2001; and Grover et al., 2002). The land price is very high and therefore farmers are interested to grow the crops which fetch higher price and give better returns. The variable water availability for crops raising encourages farmers to follow the cropping system which suits the farm. Water is the most precious input in semiarid part of Haryana and therefore the cropping system to a great extent is chosen as per water availability at the farm. Cotton-wheat and pearlmillet-wheat cropping systems are established cropping systems in semiarid zone of Haryana, but now these cropping systems are not proving to be farmers-friendly due to higher nutrients and water need and susceptibility to insects and pests, which is resulting in adverse effect on soil health and poor returns. Therefore, the need of the hour is to develop cropping systems with higher crop and water productivity, sustainability and economic viability for semiarid areas, and therefore an attempt has been made to study the productivity, sustainability and viability of different cropping systems, which include food crops, cash crops, oil seeds and vegetables.

Genetics & Evolution Journal, CEL-I Endonuclease, Heterozygous Mutants, Homozygous Mutants, Biological Processes, Plant Mutants, Solanum Lycopersicon, Microcentrifuge Tubes, Homozygous Plants, Plant Genes, Cross Pollination, Heteroduplex Formation.