Assessment of agro-ecosystem services under contrasting tillage and residue management in rice–wheat system of Lateritic soils

Arable lands support food production alongside a range of agro-ecosystem services (AES), yet widespread degradation has resulted from their continued exploitation.  Within this context, conservation agriculture (CA) has emerged as a potential resource-conservation technology (RCT) to improve system performance and mitigate environmental costs. However, evidence on how conventional and CA-based practices shape the full spectrum of agro-ecosystem services remains limited for rice–wheat systems of tropical and subtropical regions, particularly within lateritic belts where soils are inherently vulnerable. To address this gap, a multi-year experiment (2022–2025) was conducted to evaluate the effect of varying tillage regimes and residue management practices on AES offered by rice-wheat systems on lateritic soils. Rice establishment comprised zero-tilled direct-seeded rice (ZTDSR) and transplanted rice (TPR), including variants with alternate wetting and drying (TPRAWD), while wheat was established under zero tillage (ZTW) or conventional tillage (CTW) with rice residue retention (RR), incorporation (RI), or no residue. Results from the study showed that provisioning AES attained the maximum value in case of ZTDSR-ZTW(RR) for both rice (US$ 1322 ha^-1 season^-1) and wheat (US$ 977 ha^-1 season^-1). Regulatory AES values ranged from US$ 397 ha^-1 y^-1 (TPR-CTW) to US$ 489 ha^-1 y^-1 (ZTDSR-ZTW (RR). The monetary values of soil parameters influencing regulatory AES under CA followed the trend ZTDSR-ZTW(RR) > ZTDSR-CTW(RI) > ZTDSR-CTW, where CA-based practices exhibited 1.54-8.5% and 2.71-19.9% higher AES values compared to conventional (TPR-CTW) in rice and wheat seasons, respectively. The results of supporting AES which comprised of soil fertility, N mineralization, air purification etc. were observed to be US$ 509 and US$ 328 ha^-1 season^-1 for rice and wheat, respectively. ZTDSR-ZTW(RR) exhibited highest economic value of soil fertility (US$ 8.73 ha^-1 season^-1) followed by ZTDSR-CTW(RI) (US$ 3.77 ha^-1 season^-1), TPRAWD-ZTW(RR) (US$ 5.79 ha^-1 season^-1) and ZTDSR-CTW (US$ 1.39 ha^-1 season^-1) averaged for both rice and wheat seasons. With regard to ecosystem disservices, plots managed under ZTDSR-ZTW(RR) resulted in 41 and 28% higher direct emissions for rice and wheat season, respectively, than that of ZTDSR-CTW. The CH₄ emissions were largely prevalent in rice season and exerted the most negative impact for TPR-CTW(RI) in economic terms (US$ -31.29 ha^-1 y^-1) while the least was observed for ZTDSR-ZTW (RR) (US$ -0.07 ha^-1 y^-1). Similarly, CA-based treatments showed 61 and 72% lower soil-erosion-based environmental costs than conventionally cultivated treatments in rice and wheat seasons, respectively. Considering all ES together, the net AES value extended from US$ 3657 to US$ 4544 ha^-1 y^-1, with ZTDSR-ZTW being highest (US$ 4544 ha^-1 y^-1) followed by TPRAWD-ZTW(RR) (US$ 4343 ha^-1 y^-1) and ZTDSR-CTW(RI) (US$ 4155 ha^-1 y^-1) and TPR-AWD being the lowest (US$ 3657 ha^-1 y^-1). These results indicate that ZTDSR-ZTW (RR) can potentially be better RCT for improved net AES offered by agricultural systems in lateritic soils and can be included in policy intervention to achieve sustainability of these ecologically fragile tracts.