Exploring the scenario of natural farming and food system in the North Eastern Hill Region of India: an introspective study

The agricultural practices in India's North Eastern hill region (NEHR) align with the philosophy of natural farming, which emphasizes working in harmony with natural cycles and processes of the natural world. Farmers in the region follow the traditional agriculture practices based on indigenous technical knowledge (ITK), these practices align with the attributes of natural farming such as; no-tillage, intercropping, mulching, crop rotation, no use of agrochemicals, functional biodiversity, crop diversity etc. evolved through experience and experiments by ancestors. As the indigenous communities habituated in the region have historically relied on natural resources, their food systems have been centred around forest-based resources, which include a wide variety of wild species. Therefore, this study endeavors to provide a comprehensive overview of the scenario of natural farming and food systems in NEHR. Further, it suggests assessing natural farming in the context of NEHR while taking food systems into consideration, along with the documentation of both cultivated and collected wild foods of significance

Plant growth and yield performance of pomegranate varieties under hot arid eco-system

Five pomegranate varieties were evaluated for vegetative growth and yield for five years during 2017-2021 under a hot arid eco-system. No significant difference was observed among varieties with respect to vegetative characters except canopy volume. The maximum canopy volume was observed in cultivar Jalore seedless (1.73 m3) followed by Bhagwa (0.78 m3) and minimum in variety Ganesh (0.40 m3). The physical fruit parameters and yield attributing characters were recorded as superior in Jalore Seedless exhibited maximum fruit weight (189.8 g), fruit volume (127.2 cc), test weight (282.2 g), total aril weight/fruit (123.8 g), number of fruits/plant (66.6) and yield/plant (12.63 kg) followed by Ganesh and minimum was recorded in Phule Arakta with fruit weight (128.2 g), fruit volume (89.2 cc), test weight (174.0 g), number of fruits/plant (46.2) and yield/plant (5.00 kg). Aril weight (0.28 g), aril length and width (9.99 x 7.22 mm) were also observed to be significantly high in Jalore Seedless. A non-significant difference in juice per cent was observed among Mridula, Jalore Seedless and Bhagwa, with a maximum in cultivar Mridula (58), followed by Jalore Seedless and Bhagwa (50.4) and a minimum in Ganesh (37.4). The highest juice TSS was found in Jalore Seedless (17.02 °Brix) followed by Ganesh (16.52 °Brix) and Bhagwa (15.18 °Brix), while it was significantly lower in Mridula (13.26 °Brix). Based on vegetative growth, fruit physical parameters and fruit yield the performance of Jalore Seedless was superior over the other four varieties under a hot arid environment

Plant-insect interactions in different genotypes of ber (Ziziphus mauritiana L) against fruit borer (Meridarchis scyrodes Meyrick)

Differences in genotypes of ber plant characters may affect insect-plant herbivore interactions, and variation in genotype traits is responsible for modifying the bottom-up effects. We evaluated the performance of different genotypes of Z. mauritiana against fruit borer, Meridarchis scyrodes Meyrick, under field conditions in the semi-arid region of India. We found that: (i) four genotypes were resistant; 5 genotypes were moderately resistant; 7 genotypes were susceptible, and seven genotypes were highly susceptible to fruit borers infestation; (ii) per cent fruit infestation was highest in Sanur-5 (75.09 %) and lowest in Safeda (13.27 %) followed by Tikadi (14.01 %); (iii) phenols (0.96), Tannins (0.95), flavonoid (0.95) contents and pericarp thickness (0.88) had significant negative correlations with per cent fruit infestation of fruit borer, M. scyrodes; (iv) fruit length (0.50) and pulp: stone ratio (0.77) showed significant positive correlations with per cent fruit infestation of fruit borer, M. scyrodes and (v) flavonoid contents explained 91.40% of the total variation in fruit borer, M. scyrodes infestation. Two principal components (PCs) were extracted, explaining the cumulative variation of 88.48 %. PC1 explained 64.34 % of the variation, while PC2 explained 24.14 n. In conclusion, growers can adopt the potential resistant genotype (Safeda) of Z. mauritiana with minimal financial investment to obtain higher yields

Adoption of paddy straw management techniques in Haryana: Effective approach on environmental conservation

Crop residue burning directly contributes to environmental pollution and releases 149.24 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), over 9 million tonnes of carbon monoxide (CO), 0.25 million tonnes of oxides of sulphur (SOX), 1.28 million tonnes of particulate matter and 0.07 million tonnes of black carbon. The burning of paddy straw results in extensive impacts both on and off farm, e.g. losses in soil organic matter, soil nutrients, production and productivity, air quality, biodiversity, water and energy efficiency and on human and animal health. In India, being a largest producer of rice as well as of its residue, the effects from residue burning are more severe (Yadav, R.S.2019). There are diverse set of productive techniques for paddy straw management that can be utilised such as composting, straw as a ruminant fodder, incorporated in the soil, gasification, bailing, mushroom farming, production of bio-fuel, recycling in soil, packing material and bio-char production (Pathaket al., 2010). The study on ‘Knowledge and Adoption of Paddy Straw Management Techniques in Haryana’ was conducted with following specific objectives of knowledge, adoption and constraints by the farmer in adoption of paddy straw management techniques. Majority (75 %) of the farmers were having low level of adoption regarding Paddy Straw Management Techniques. Whereas full (100%) adoption of paddy straw as animal fodder got Ist rank followed by domestic purpose got rank 2nd. The respondents had a greater level of acceptance adoption of Spreader/Shrub Master with weighted mean score of 0.95 got rank 1st

Comparative studies of conventional, organic and natural farming types for their efficiency, and productivity in maize + red gram intercropping system

The field experiment on comparative studies of different farming methods for their efficiency and productivity in maize + redgram intercropping system was conducted at zonal agricultural and horticultural research station, Bhavikere during Kharif season. Among the different farming types, growth and yield parameters of maize viz. plant height (204.18 cm) number of leaves/ plant (17.20), cob length (15.94cm), straw yield (19.35 t/ ha) grain yield (81.36 q/ ha) and red gram Grain yield (4.36 q/ ha) and straw yield (11.19 q/ ha) were significantly higher with treatment received nutrients as per package of practices as compared to natural farming and organic farming treatments. Similar trend was observed with maize equivalent yield (95.50 q/ ha). On the other hand, highest dehydrogenase (14.32, 28.65, 24.19 and 16.23 µg TPF/ g soil/ day) and urease (4.12, 12.65, 7.14 and 3.32 µg NH4-N/ g / soil/ 2 hrs) enzyme activity was observed in organic farming treatment at 30, 60, 90 DAS and at harvest, respectively followed by natural farming treatment and least enzyme activity was noticed in farmers practice. Same trend was observed in acid and alkaline phosphatase enzyme activities. There was no much variation in physical properties i.e., bulk density, particle density, maximum water holding capacity and porosity by the different treatments and also no significant difference occurs in the pH and EC, however higher nitrogen (315.27) phosphorus (73.48) and potassium (271.28) was observed in the organic farming treatment and it was followed with the farmer’s practice treatment. The lowest was recorded in the natural farming treatment (215.47, 33.47 and 220.47 at the harvest stage)

Influence of organic manures and zinc on yield, quality and profitability of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) under semi-arid conditions

The study was conducted to determine the effect of organic manures and zinc on radish's growth, yield, quality and economics. The maximum average weight of the root (193.72 g), root: shoot ratio (2.72), root yield (258.86 q/ha), ascorbic acid (13.72 mg/100g), zinc content in leaves (25.05 ppm),) net return (Rs 170280/ha) and B: C ratio (2.92) were recorded and significantly influenced in treatment M2 but these parameters were at par with M3 except net return. In the case of zinc levels, the maximum average weight of root (194.81 g), root: shoot ratio (2.62), root yield (253.30 q/ha), ascorbic acid (13.40 mg/100g), net return (Rs 167810/ha) and B: C ratio (2.96) were recorded in treatment ZnSO4 @ 25 kg/ha but these parameters were at par with Z3. However, zinc content in leaves and roots (27.31 & 47.15 ppm) were recorded more in treatment Z3 @ 30 kg/ha but these parameters did not differ significantly from treatment Z2. The combining effect of different organic manures and zinc levels was significant on the B: C ratio. Moreover, the interactive effect between vermicompost @ 3 t/ha along with ZnSO4 @ 25 kg/ha was significantly higher (3.27) over the rest of the treatments except M3Z3, M2Z3 and M3Z2, which were found statistically at par to it