*2.1. Experimental Site*

The field experiment was conducted consecutively for two years (2013–2014 and 2014–2015) at Research Farm of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (latitude of 28◦38 N, longitude of 77◦10 E and altitude of 228.6 m above the mean sea level). Two crops in a year including rice during wet season (June to September) and wheat during dry/winter season (November to April) were grown. The climate of New Delhi is of subtropical and semi-arid type with hot and dry summers followed by monsoon rains in July-September and cold winters in November–April and falls under the agro-climatic zone 'Trans-Gangetic plains'. The mean annual normal rainfall and evaporation are 650 and 850 mm, respectively. Amount of rainfall received during growing duration of first cycle of RWCS (2013–2014) was 1497.4 mm, out of which 1349.8 mm was received during rice growing season and 147.6 mm was received during wheat growing season. In second cycle (2014–2015), total rainfall was 760 mm, out of which 451.4 mm received in rice growing season and 308.6 mm during wheat growing season. The number of rainy days was higher during first rice growing season (39 days) than second rice growing season (22 days). The highest amount of rainfall during rice growing season was received during 33rd (196.1 mm) and 29th meteorological weeks (112.7 mm) in first and second year, while in case of wheat, 7th (53 mm) and 9th (135.4 mm) meteorological weeks received highest rainfall in first and second year, respectively (Supplementary Tables S1 and S2).

The soil was sandy clay loam (Typic Ustochrept) in texture with a mechanical composition [23] of 51.4% sand, 22.2% silt and 26.4% clay. The soils of experimental field had 0.54% organic C [24], 257 kg ha−<sup>1</sup> alkaline permanganate oxidizable N [25], 17 kg ha−<sup>1</sup> available P (Olsen's method) [26], 327 kg ha−<sup>1</sup> 1 N ammonium acetate exchangeable K [27] and 0.85 mg kg−<sup>1</sup> of available zinc [28]. The pH of the soil was 7.6 (1:2.5 soil-to-water ratio) [29].
