Insights on soil biological properties and crop yields under natural farming in western Himalaya

PANMA  YANKIT; R S  CHANDEL; SUDHIR  VERMA; P L  SHARMA; S C  VERMA; GAIKWAD MAHESH  BALASO; PRIYANKA  SHARMA; SANJEEV  CHAUHAN; KESHAVA; U S  GAUTAM

doi:10.56093/ijas.v94i3.148563

Authors

PANMA YANKIT Dr YSP University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India
R S CHANDEL Dr YSP University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India
SUDHIR VERMA Dr YSP University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India
P L SHARMA College of Horticulture and Forestry, Thunag, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
S C VERMA Dr YSP University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India
GAIKWAD MAHESH BALASO College of Horticulture, Kadegaon, Maharashtra; 4Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
PRIYANKA SHARMA Dr YSP University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India
SANJEEV CHAUHAN Dr YSP University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India
KESHAVA Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
U S GAUTAM Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v94i3.148563

Keywords:

Crop equivalent yield, Natural farming, Soil microbial population, Soil enzymatic activity, Soil microarthropods, Tomato yield

Abstract

Sustainability of agricultural production systems is a major concern in context to present environmental conditions. Natural farming (NF) is being promoted as low-cost environment friendly option. A study was carried out to investigate the effects of NF vis-a-vis organic farming (OF) and conventional farming (CF) systems on soil microbial population, enzymatic activity, and microarthropod population under tomato crop in the mid-hill zone of Himachal Pradesh, India. The results showed that bacterial population under NF increased by 42.8% and 24% in comparison to CF and OF, respectively. Similarly, the population of soil fungi and actinomycetes under NF increased by 80.5 and 67.7% over CF, and by 47.9 and 39.6% over OF, respectively. The soil dehydrogenase activity under NF (22.5µg TPF/g soil/h) was 150.6% higher than CF and 85.2% higher than OF. Similar trend was found for phosphatase and urease activity. Soil micro arthropod population after two years of experiment was also highest under NF followed by OF and CF. The system yield was statistically at par to each other, among different farming systems. All the soil biological parameters were significantly correlated with each other (P<0.001, N=42). However, the correlation of these parameters was not significant for crop yield.

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