Quantifying the yield loss pattern in paddy crop within a native tree-based riverine agroforestry system in Chhattisgarh, Central India: Implications to food sustainability and climate smart farming

Riverine agroforestry is a most diverse, dynamic and widely adopted in tropical agroecosystem along river catchments contributes to climate resilient farming and restoring rivers flow. We estimated the yield loss in paddy cultivar MTU7029 grown with Acacia nilotica, Butea monosperma, Mangifera indica, Terminalia arjuna , and Terminalia tomentosa. Tree crop interaction study was performed for two crop cycle (year 2021 and 2022) covering entire grid points of 100km river stretches, utilizing the same farmer fields, crop variety, and tree species. Additionally, two other factors, namely stem diameter (10–40, 41–80, 81–120, and > 120 cm DBH) and tree density (10, 20, 40, 60 trees ha ^− 1 ) were taken into account for the most abundant tree species T. arjuna at grids 5, 8 and 10 of riverine ecosystem. For species specific interaction, 36 trees and diameter and density class assessment, 30 trees were employed from the farmer’s fields. Sample plots of 1m² size were established in standing crops at 2m, 8m, 15m, and 25m distances along a transect line from both sides of the tree, oriented in an east-west direction. Results showed a negative impact of trees on crop as Paddy yield reported 3.64 t ha ^− 1 at 2m and 5.52 t ha ^− 1 at 25m distance from the tree in crop field. Adverse effect of trees continued to decline paddy tiller and hills by 51% and 10.93% respectively in tree proximity. A large trees with big canopy M. indica and T. tomentosa were found most negative for crop yield than moderate to small canopy species A. nilotica, B. monosperma and T. arjuna . The large diameter trees led to the greater yield loss of 42.53% than the lower diameter trees. Farmland trees between 40–60 ha ^− 1 found to limit the yield by 66.45% when close to trees, however the yield loss was less with decreasing tree densities in the crop fields. The tree shade was observed to be the most influencing factor on yield loss of paddy than the other factors. Therefore, site specific tree selection based on morphological parameters such as height, canopy structure, and tree density up to 10–20 ha ^− 1 can promoted for the riverine agroecosystem. Regular canopy management and removal of exploitable diameter tree may also compensate the yield loss through intermediate income and yield loss reduction of paddy yield. Adoption of such practices may contribute towards climate resilient smart agroforestry practice expansion in riverine agroecosystem.