Response of rice varieties under organic and natural farming practices

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif, 2024 at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Karjat, Maharashtra, to evaluate the response of rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties under organic and natural farming practices. The study was laid out in a split plot design with three replications, comprising three management practices viz., organic farming (M₁), natural farming (M₂), and integrated practices of organic + natural farming (M₃) in the main plots, and six rice varieties differing in maturity duration with same grain type viz., Karjat 4 (V₁), Ratnagiri 5 (V₂), Trombay Karjat Kolam (V₃), Karjat 6 (V₄), Karjat 8 (V₅), and Ratnagiri 8 (V₆) in sub plots. A field experiment assessed rice growth and yield under organic, natural, and integrated farming practices. Growth parameters under production systems showed that integrated farming (M₃) recorded significantly higher plant height (92.24 cm) and tillers hill^-1 (10.20) over individual farming practices. Further, results revealed that the integrated approach (M₃) recorded the highest yield-contributing characters such as number of panicles hill^-1 (8.41), panicle weight (3.15 g), and number of total grains panicle^-1 (233.12), ultimately achieving the maximum grain yield (4208.78 kg ha^-1), straw yield (5470.35 kg ha^-1), and biological yield (9679.13 kg ha^-1). Among the different rice varieties, Ratnagiri 8 was superior in both growth characters i.e. height (104.24 cm) and tillers (10.27) as well as significantly outperformed all others with superior yield attributes and recorded the highest grain yield (5637.94 kg ha^-1), straw yield (6804.60 kg ha^-1), and harvest index (45.33%). The interaction analysis indicated that the combination of organic farming with Ratnagiri 8 (M₁V₆) was significantly superior and producing the significantly highest grain yield (5916.64 kg ha^-1). These findings highlight the importance of varietal selection along with integrated approach of organic + natural farming practices among the farming practices in enhancing rice productivity, and sustainability in the kharif season under Konkan region of Maharashtra.