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Drylands cover approximately 41% of the world’s land area comprises of drylands, which supports two billion people. Drylands have an aridity index of less than 0.65. Drylands are characterized as places of water scarcity, wherein the rainfall may be limited or may only be abundant for a short span of time. They experience high mean temperatures resulting in high rates of water loss through evaporation and transpiration. Climatic variations and devastating human activities like deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable agricultural practices make drylands vulnerable to land degradation. As a result of such activities soil erosion, soil nutrient loss, changes in salt concentration in the soil and disequilibrium in the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles occur. Limited agricultural productivity and water scarcity are the result of low precipitation and prolonged dry spells in such areas. An environmental extreme of hot and cold temperatures along with low water availability constrains the soil fertility in dryland areas. These soils thus have low soil organic matter (0.1 to 3%), low availability of nitrogen and phosphorus, low water-holding capacity, high pH, shallowness, stoniness, and other specific problems. The biological activity of such soil is much lower compared to humid areas. The organic carbon content of such soil is also low, often less than 1% of the soil mass. Nutrient cycling is disturbed by low and erratic rainfall, wide temperature extremes, alkalinity and/or salinity, wind erosion, etc. All these constraints lead to low production and therefore, adopting measures to increase production becomes necessary. Conservation agriculture makes efficient use …