Soils are the largest carbon pool in terrestrial ecosystems, containing more than two-thirds of its total carbon. Soil and crop management practices influence soil CO2 emission. Tillage operations influence crop yield and CO2 exchange from soil to atmosphere. In the present study, the long term effect of tillage, residues and N levels on the yield of sorghum, castor and soil CO2 emissions was studied. The yield of castor bean and sorghum was significantly influenced by tillage, residues and N levels. Minimum tillage resulted in 4% and 18% higher castor and sorghum yields respectively in both the years studied. Application of residues and N also significantly influenced the yield of castor and sorghum compared to no residue application. Conventional tillage recorded significantly higher soil CO2 flux (531 mg CO2 m-2 hr-1) compared to minimum tillage (284 mg CO2 m-2 hr-1). Loss of carbon through CO2 emissions from the soil was significantly higher with application of sorghum stover (327.9 mg CO2 m-2 hr-1) followed by application of Gliricidia loppings (300.9 mg CO2 m-2 hr-1). Similarly, addition of N @ 90 kg/ha significantly stimulated the soil CO2. Conclusively, it can be said that the management practices such as minimum tillage can help in reducing the CO2 emissions and in turn protecting the soil carbon resource. Thus, there is a need to minimise the CO2 losses during the cropping season by adopting soil and crop management practices.