Quality traits under different farming practices in legume-based cropping systems

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at Organic Farm Holta of Department of Organic Agriculture and Natural Farming, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur during kharif and rabi seasons of 2018-19 and 2019-20 on silty clay loam soil to study the performance of different quality traits under different farming practices in legume-based cropping systems. The experiment was laid out under Split Plot Design with three replications comprising of three sequences in legume – vegetable based cropping system i.e., “soybean – onionâ€, “okra – peas†and “mash – garlic†under different farming practices i.e., Organic farming, Natural farming, Inorganic and Integrated farming practices.Comparing different farming practices, highest protein content (39.1%) was observed in crops under organic farming practices followed by zero budget natural farming practices (38.3%). Significantly higher protein yield of these crops was also recorded under organic farming practices (449 kg/ha) followed by integrated farming practices (405 kg/ha).Carbohydrate yield (1127 kg/ha) and fat yield (120 kg/ha) of crops were significantly highest in integrated farming practices and inorganic farming practices respectively. “Soybean-onion†cropping system produced significantly highest protein yield (644 kg/ha) and fat yield (300.7 kg/ha) as compared to other cropping systems. However, higher protein content and low carbohydrate and fat were recorded in this system when grown under organic farming practices and was found to be the best amongst all cropping systems and farming practices combinations.