Productivity and economic feasibility of vegetable-based cropping system under organic and natural farming conditions in Indo-Gangetic plains of India

Abstract

Organic and natural farming are considered alternatives to modern agriculture for sustaining soil and
environmental health and producing better quality agricultural produce free from pesticide residues. The
consumer concern for the same is more for vegetables and fruits as they are generally consumed raw and
have higher purchase frequency. Field experiments were conducted in northwest India in 2018 and 2019 to
evaluate the performance of the pea-okra radish cropping system under organic and natural farming practices
with paddy straw mulch and no-mulch conditions. The treatments consisted of farmyard manure (FYM) to
supply recommended nitrogen to the crops, natural farming practices-250 kg FYM/ha + on-farm preparations
(NF), FYM + NF and FYM + vermicompost (VC). The FYM, FYM + NF and FYM + VC were at par with each other
but were significantly superior to NF and unfertilized control regarding economic yields of all the crops. The
economic yields of pea, okra, and radish were 40.11, 46.48 and 25.99 per cent higher with FYM than NF. Paddy
straw mulch gave significantly higher economic yields (11.10, 12.56 and 19.28 per cent in pea, okra and radish)
than no-mulch. Though the economic yields were higher with FYM + NF, the benefit-cost ratios for all the crops
were higher with FYM alone due to the higher cost of production in other treatments.