Effect of Natural Farming on Soil Health, Growth, Yield and Quality of Sorghum-Oat Fodder Production System
Sushant Kumar *
Department of Agronomy, Acharya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Rajesh Kumar
Department of Agronomy, Acharya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Ankur Tripathi
Department of Agronomy, Acharya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Vikash Singh
Department of Agronomy, Acharya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Kamaran Azam
Department of Agronomy, Acharya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Ashish Kumar Verma
Department of Agronomy, Acharya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The field experiment was conducted on fodder sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and fodder oat (Avena sativa L.) during the kharif and rabi season in 2022-23 at GPB Research Farm, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya (U.P). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD). Results revealed that the growth parameters of kharif sorghum and rabi oat viz., plant population (20.96 m-1 and 71.83 m-1), plant height (190.00 cm and 112.42 cm), Leaf: stem ratio (0.74 and 0.38), green fodder yield (274.46 q ha-1 and 263.9 q ha-1), dry fodder yield (68.61 q ha-1 and 65.97 q ha-1) and quality parameters viz., crude protein content (8.83 % and 7.84 %), crude protein yield (6.06 q ha-1 and 5.17 q ha-1), ADF (40.22 % and 44.31 %) and NDF (65.59 % and 73.61%) at harvest was improved by different organic treatments over control, being highest under FYM @ 5 t ha- 1 + Natural farming with mulch followed by FYM @ 5 t ha-1 + Natural farming without mulch.
Keywords: Natural farming, FYM, compost tea, yield, quality, fodder production, crude protein