Comparative performance of forage based cropping systems under conventional organic and natural farming

Abstract

A field experiment entitled Comparative performance of forage based cropping systems under newlineconventional, organic and natural farming was conducted, starting from rabi season 2019-20 to newlinekharif -2021, at Integrated Organic Farm, CSK, Himachal Pradesh KrishiVishvavidyalaya, Palampur. newlineFifteen treatment combinations with five farming practices viz. FO Absolute control, F1 Organic newlinefarming, F2 Natural farming, F3 - Natural farming+10 t FYM, F4 Recommended fertilizers dose newline(RDF) in main plots and three forage based cropping systems viz. C1 Oat sorghum, C2 - Oat + fodder newlineSarson - sorghum + pearl millet, C3 - Oat + berseem -sorghum + cowpea in sub plots, laid out in split newlineplot design with three replications were evaluated for crop productivity, quality, soil properties and newlineprofitability. The soil of the experimental field was silty-clay loam in texture and slightly acidic in newlinereaction with medium organic carbon. The soil was low in available nitrogen and medium in available newlinein phosphorus and available potassium. Application of recommended NPK fertilizers resulted in highest newlinesystem productivity i.e. highest total green fodder yield (80.22 t ha-1 newline), on the basis of two years pooled newlinemean, which was followed by natural farming + 10 t FYM ha-1 newline(71.47 t ha-1 newline) and the latter treatment newlineremaining at par with organic farming practices outyielded natural farming and absolute control newlinetreatments. Among the cropping systems, oat + fodder sarson- sorghum+ pearl millet gave maximum newlinetotal green fodder yield (75.47 t ha-1 newline) which was significantly higher than other two cropping systems newlineon two years pool basis. Farming practices significantly influenced acid detergent fiber (ADF) and newlineneutral detergent fiber (NDF) content in oats and sorghum, with absolute control and natural farming newlineapproaches showing highest ADF and NDF content while recommended NPK fertilizers showed the newlinelowest content. Incorporating leguminous component is recommended for improved fodder quality. The newlineapplication of 10t of farmyard manure (