Preface   Efficient use of every single input in crop production has to be very well elucidated by different suitable indices or indicators. Efficiency indices or sustainable indicators are highly useful in crop management studies to explain the outcome of a study in an effective and convincing manner. Various indicators or indices used in crop management studies have to be compiled in a single manuscript that helps the researchers as well as scientific community who are all involving in this field, for an effective presentation of results. This manuscript is a compilation of various efficiency indices that most commonly used in the crop management studies covering nutrient, water and weed management, cropping and farming system, meteorological and physiological experiments with suitable examples. It also includes the economic assessment of an experiment and some important statistical parameters, which are commonly used during field experiments. Hopefully, the technical information contained herein will prove useful to students, teachers, scientists and researchers working in these relevant fields. It will also provide a tool to research scholars while conducting experiments and writing thesis or reports in a supporting way. The authors gratefully acknowledge the every sources of information from where they have drawn technical content. Efforts are made to make this publication self-explanatory and useful however, any suggestions for improvement will be highly appreciated.

Food security of a country can be achieved through advanced agricultural research, followed by efficient and effective transfer of technologies. Unlike laboratory experiments, agronomic experiments are being conducted at open environment which leads to lot of variations in outcome/results due to influences of unpredictable weather condition and heterogenic soil characters even though proper adoption of local control. Results of an experiment can be expressed in different ways to make the clients to understand easily recordable output data viz., growth attributes, yield parameters and yield, laboratory analyses data like soil and crop nutrient status and quality parameters of the produce. Nutrient management studies should focus the efficiency of particular fertilizer nutrient over others, methods of fertilizer application, contribution of nutrients to crops from soil and fertilizer etc. Similarly, water management experiments would explain the water conveyance, application and storage efficiencies, suitability of method of irrigation, water saving techniques and water use efficiency of different crops as well as agronomic practices etc. In weed management experiments, the efficiency of particular herbicide in terms of controlling weeds, and increasing crop yields have to be expressed by various efficiency indices. Weed suppression ability of an intercrop can be explained by smothering efficiency.

2.1. Rainfall Rainfall is one of the prime natural resource that decide the economy of a country. Inadequate and improper distribution of rainfall during cropping period will have serious threat to crop production resulted in food insecurity of growing population. So each and every action must be focused to conserve every drop of rainfall in an effective way and the conserved rainfall should be utilized in an efficient manner for crop production.

3.1. Growth Analysis Growth and development analysis of plants provides information related to influence of various factors either negative or positive on plant growth. The basic idea of this analysis is the estimation of crop growth at various stages and finally towards the yield. It will help us to understand the performance of a genotype as well as impact of agronomic practices on the crop at any stage of growth and also on final yield. This would also identify the factors responsible for high yield and thereby provide the basis to tailor agronomic practices. The most common parameters used in growth analysis are leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate and leaf area duration.

Importance of nutrient management in crop production can be very well explained by conducting various field trails by different fertilizer nutrient, methods of application and sources of fertilizer. Experiments on nutrient management are being carried out to study the impact of nutrient application, new techniques of fertilizer application, sources and doses of fertilizers on plant growth, yield and soil fertility and their efficiency over existing one was elucidated through various efficiency indices. The following efficiencies are normally being used in nutrient management studies.

Agricultural water consumes about 85% of the available water. The future hopes to solve world’s food problem lies in irrigation development. Considering the need of efficient management of water, which is crucial at this point understanding of different efficiencies of the irrigation related experiments or projects, is necessary. Irrigation efficiency is used to evaluate how effectively the available water is used in crop production. Water is conveyed through canal system, watercourses and channels to crop fields. Irrigation is applied to store water in the effective root zone of soil for use of crops. A considerable loss occurs after its diversion from sources to its actual use by crops. The extent of water loss in the process decides the irrigation efficiency. Irrigation efficiency declines as the water loss increases. A high efficiency of an irrigation project is always desirable. The efficiency may be estimated for various operations beginning from diversion of water to its actual use by crops, uniformity in its distribution in the root zone, its use for crop productivity, economics and so on.

Weed management practices are evaluated for its efficiency in terms of effective control of weeds and economics of control measures through various indices under sole crop situation as well as intercrop situation. 6.1. Indices for Sole Crop Situation The absolute effect of particular method or a chemical in reducing the weed competitions and increasing the crop productivity are measured effectively by various indices. The comparisons of weed control methods are usually based on the yield, weed population and weed dry matter from the control as well as treated plots.

Comparison of different cropping systems with reference to land use and yield advantages is possible through various efficiency indices. The various cropping and farming systems practiced in an area have to be properly evaluated to decide their suitability and relative advantages. The comparisons can be made with reference to many factors viz., yield, monetary, water use efficiency, nutrient use efficiency, total dry matter production, intensity of land use etc., The cropping as well as farming systems research are being perused at national level with major focus for identification of location specific efficient systems since 1990. However, on perusal of research publications we find that the data of cropping systems are interpreted in different ways with major focus only on production and net return on hectare basis. In fact, these two aspects are not the indicator of the efficiency of a particular system. Many advances have been made in recent years to identify the efficient system for a particular location. Some of the methodologies, which are of concern to crop scientists in general and agronomists in particular, are highlighted here for ready reference to the researchers, agronomists and crop planners. Different indicators of system efficiency are as follows (Gangwar et al., 2003).

The thrust of Indian Agriculture in the post green revolution period was an enhancing agricultural productivity through sustainable practices. In order to achieve its, the government of India implemented a national level programme for the development of rainfed areas through the watershed approach. A watershed is a community-based programmes that is organized in a specifically earmarked area with a defined time frame and focuses on a wide range of issues and activities for integrated development of the village. The main focus is laid on water, food and fodder security and employment generation The watershed approach aimed at augmentation and stabilization of production and productivity, minimizing ecological degradation, reduction in regional disparity, opening up of greater opportunities for employment of rural poor in the rainfed areas. A similar approach has been adopted for developing the more resource poor areas — drought prone, desert and wastelands — and to provide sustainable means of livelihoods to the rural poor in these areas. Promotion on the economic development of the village community, optimum utilization of the watershed’s natural resources like land, water, vegetation, employment generation and development of the human and other economic resources of the village and encourage restoration of ecological balance in the village are the main objectives of watershed development programmes.

Cost of Cultivation The expenditure incurred from sowing to harvest including the field preparation can be worked out and expressed in Rs. ha-1. Gross Return Total income obtained from multiplication of unit cost of main product as well as byproducts and its total yield and expressed in Rs. ha-1. Net Return Net return is obtained by subtracting cost of cultivation from gross return and expressed in Rs. ha-1. Net return = Gross return – total cost of cultivation

Agronomic Research Statistical tools are used in all branch of agriculture. It is mainly used for efficient planning of experiments and for interpreting experimental data. A good researcher should be aware of statistical techniques, which helps not only summarization of data but also interpretation of data. 10.1. Parameters Used in Statistics Population The aggregate or totality of all possible objects possessing the specified characteristic is called a population. Thus, a population may consist of all plants in a plot or field. Sample A portion of the population is known as sample. For statistical inferences about a population from a sample, it is essential that the samples are representative of the population.

References   Balasubramanian, N. 1985. Studies on integrated high density weed management in cropping system sorghum + pulses- finger millet- cotton + pulses. Ph.D. thesis. TNAU, Coimbatore. Binning, A.S., Pathak, B.S. and Panesar (1983). The energy audit of crop production system research report, School of energy studies for agriculture, Panjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Panjab (India). Cassman, K.G., G.C. Gines, M.A. Dizon, M.I. Samson and J.M.Alcantara. 1996. Nitrogen use efficiency in tropical low land rice systems. Contributions from indigenous and applied nitrogen. Field crop Res. 47: 1-12. Dazhong, W and D.Pimental. 1984. Energy flow through an organic agro-ecosystem in China. Agric. Ecosystem Environ., 11: 145-160. Englestad, O. P., Aroon Jugsceinda and S. K. De Datta, 1974. Response of floodrice to phosphate rock varying in citrate Solubility. Soil Sci. Amer. Proc., 38 : 524-529. Gangwar, B, Katyal, V. and Anand K. V. (2003). Productivity, stability and efficiency of different cropping systems in Maharashtra. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 73 : (9): 471-477. Gangwar, B., Katyal, and Anand, K. V. (2005). Stability and efficiency of cropping systems in Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 74 (10): 521-8. Gill, H.S. and Vijayakumar. 1966. Weed Index - a new method for reporting weed control trils. Indian J.Agron. 14: 96-98. Gopalan C. Sastri BVR and Balasusbramanium S.C.1978. Nutritive value of Indian Food pp 66-144 National Institute of Nutrition Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad, Andhara Pradesh. Gopalan, C.V., B.V. Rama Sastri and S.C. Balasubramanian. 1976. Nutritive value of foods in India. National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. pp 1-7. Hiler, E.A, Howel, T.A, Lewis, R.B and Boos, R.P. 1974. Irrigation timing by the stress day index method. Transactions ASAE, 17: 393-398. Iwata, F. 1984. Heat unit concept of crop maturity. In “Physiological aspects of dryland farming. Gupta, O.S. (Ed.). Oxford and IBH Publishers. New Delhi. Pp 351-370. Jain, T.C and G.M. Rao. 1980. Note on a new approach to analysis of yield data in intercropping system. Indian J. Agric. Sci., 50(12): 970-972.