Replacing clean fallow with minimum tilled pulse legume in a subtropical dryland at Pothwar, Pakistán

clean fallowing has been criticized in the recent past due to the fact that it causes accelerated soil erosion, emission of co2 to the atmosphere and reduction in farm income. in an effort to reduce fallowing in pothwar, pakistan, field experiments were carried out from 2005 through 2008 at three locations (rawalpindi, chakwal and fateh jang). the experimental design was split-plot and treatments were applied as follows: conventional cultivator, moldboard plow and minimum tillage in main plots; fallow, legume (mungbean, vigna radiata) and mulch of wheat straw were used in sub plots. wheat (triticum aestivum) was planted in all the subplots during winter. all the treatment plots had equivalent volumetric water content at wheat planting. consequently, the wheat biomass and grain yields were also statistically equivalent under all the applied treatments. the average yields were 7.37, 6.19 and 4.27 mg ha-1 for wheat biomass and 3.06, 3.56 and 1.6 mg ha-1 for wheat grain yield at rawalpindi, chakwal and fateh jang sites. irrespective of the tillage system, summer legume treatment had the highest average gross margins of 55 924, 37 864 and 33 722 rupees (1 dollar = 80 rs.) and efficiency coefficients of 4.20, 2.86 and 2.54, at rawalpindi, chakwal and fateh jang sites. the three-year consistent results allow concluding that replacing intensively tilled summer fallow with minimum tilled grain legume provides equivalent wheat yield to conventional practices while increasing income.