A field experiment was carried out at the Instructional cum Research Farm, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.) where three nutrient management systems were compared on wheat-mustard during 2020-21 & 2021-22 in an Vertisols to evaluate the effect of different combinations of natural, organic farming and integrated crop management system on soil properties and crop yield. The experiment consisted of 9 treatments viz. (T1) Control (No addition of any inputs except labour for operation including weeding), (T2) Complete Natural Farming (Ⅰ. Beejamrit + Ghanjeevamrit + Jeevamrit ⅠⅠ. Crop residue mulching ⅠⅡ. Intercropping IⅤ. Whapasa), (T3) Natural Farming-1 (without Beejamrit + Ghanjeevamrit + Jeevamrit), (T4) Natural Farming-2 (Without crop residue/ Mulching ), (T5) Natural Farming-3 (Without Intercropping ), (T6) Natural Farming-4 (Without Whapasa ), (T7) Organic farming practices as per AI-NPOF Package (75% RDN through organic sources + 10% foliar spray of vermiwash and cow urine at 30 and 50 DAS), (T8) Integrated crop management (50% RDN through organic sources and 50% RDN through inorganic nutrient sources with application of Neemastra, Agniastra, Bramhastra and Dasparni ark for pest management), and (T9) Integrated crop management (50% RDN through organic sources and 50% RDN through inorganic nutrient sources with application of need based inorganic pesticide for the control of pest management). The aim of using different combinations of nutrient management systems is to find out best combination which can supplement nutrients to fulfill the nutrient requirement of crop.
In case of wheat-mustard cropping system the pH of soil reached to 6.96 in organic farming practices, followed by 6.95 in complete natural farming. In case of EC 0.27 dS m-1 was recorded in organic farming practices, followed by 0.26 in complete natural farming. The highest organic carbon content (0.70%) were observed in organic farming practices, followed by complete natural farming where values were recorded as (0.68%). The observation on soil residual nutrients revealed that in both the cropping system the highest soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potash were attributed with integrated crop management practice using organic pest control. In wheat - mustard cropping system the values were 157.74 kg/ha, 19.20 kg/ha, 386.05 kg/ha for nitrogen, phosphorus and potash was observed in integrated crop management practice using organic pest control. Highest wheat seed yield (3492.21 kg ha-1) was recorded in organic farming package, followed by integrated crop management system using organic pest control (3438.71 kg ha-1). The maize were grown only under natural farming with different combination of inputs. However, the highest mustard seed yield (377.87 kg ha-1) was recorded in complete natural farming package, followed by natural farming (NF) - (without whapasa) (348.47 kg ha-1).
The results of the investigation revealed that the organic farming practices as per All India Network Project on Organic Farming package (75% RDN through organic sources + 10% foliar spray of vermi wash and cow urine at 30 and 50 DAS) was found most effective to improve the physico-chemical, chemical, microbial and biochemical properties of soil and crop yield, followed by complete natural farming (Ⅰ. Beejamrit + Ghanjeevamrit + Jeevamrit, ⅠⅠ. Crop residue mulching, ⅠⅡ. Intercropping and IⅤ.Whapasa).
