The field experiments were conducted at Agronomy Main Research Farm, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India during rabi (November–March) seasons of 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 to evaluate direct and residual effect of nutrient management and rice establishment methods on phenology, growing degree days, growth, yield and economics of groundnut in rice–groundnut cropping system. The experiments were laid out in split-plot design with three replications. Carryover effect of direct seeding rice favourably influenced the succeeding groundnut crop as compared to that grown after transplanting which had superior growth parameters resulting in 25.7% higher pod yield, oil yield (1.24 t ha-1), gross return (` 136612.7 ha-1) and net return (` 63965.0 ha-1). Residual effect of organic management to preceding rice significantly increased growth, yield attributes, growing degree days at physiological maturity and net return, resulted in highest pod yield of 2.48 t ha-1 in groundnut which was at par with that grown after INM in rice, but was on an average, 17.0% higher than inorganic practice in rice. INM to groundnut increased yield parameters and economics of the crop resulting in 19.7 and 39.3% higher pod yields than 100% and 75% soil test based fertiliser, respectively. Hence, INM under direct seeding to kharif rice benefits the succeeding groundnut crop and direct application of 75% STBN (inorganic)+25% STBN (FYM)+0.2 LR+biofertilisers to groundnut proved beneficial for improving phenology, growing degree days, growth, yield and economics of groundnut in rice–groundnut cropping system.

This chapter presents the results of field studies conducted to determine the effect of tillage, intercropping and residue cover on crop productivity, profitability and soil fertility under tribal farming situations in Odisha, India. It was shown that intecropping maize and cowpea under minimum tillage along with residue cover improved crop yield, increased the soil fertility and increased the economic returns.

This paper presents the results of field studies conducted to assess the crop yield, system productivity, profitability and soil fertility of maize under the influence of different maize-based conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) in Odisha, India, during the rainy and post-rainy seasons of 2011/12 and 2012/13. It was shown that location-specific and low-input conservation agriculture practice, such as CAPS, can help farmers to intensify crop production in marginal lands without any environmental issue, along with high economic returns.

The study was conducted on sandy loam soil at IAAS Rampur, Chitwan during May to September, 2012 to evaluate the effect of different combinations of biogas slurry and urea on production of okra, laid out in a two-factor RCBD with three replications. Altogether ten treatments consist of two varieties namely Arka Anamika - open pollinated and Jaikisan-62-F1 hybrid and four different levels of biogas slurry and urea combination (urea75%+biogas slurry25%, urea50%+biogas slurry50%, urea25%+biogas slurry75% and biogas slurry100%) and only inorganic chemical (75:60:50 kg NPK/ha) as control. All treatments were based on fulfillment of required nitrogen for the crop. The results showed that application of urea50%+biogas slurry50% increased plant height, leaf area, number of leaves and number of nodes at final harvesting. Treatment urea50% + biogas slurry50% allow maximum number of pickings/plant (23.2) and number of fruits/plant (23.5) resulting highest yield/plant (376.3 g). Among the varieties, Jaikisan-62 is superior in terms of growth, yield and post harvest character than Arka Anamika. The net return (Rs. 474,136/ha) and mean B/C ratio was highest (2.59) in Jaikisan-62 treated with urea50%+biogas slurry50%. So, for the commercial production hybrid variety is suggested.

Article History Correspondence to KeywordsThe impact of conservation agriculture production system (CAPS) on soil organic carbon, bulk density, water stable aggregates and dry season soil moisture content across the profile (0−5, 5−10 and 10−20 cm) was assessed at the end of the 3 rd cropping year in the rainfed agro-ecosystem under the hilly tracts of north Odisha. The treatment combinations are conventional tillage (CT) and minimum tillage (MT) with sole maize (M) and inter cropmaize+cowpea (M+C) in main-plots during wet season and horse gram (H), Toria mustard (T) and no cover crop (NCC) in sub-plots during dry season. Surface accumulation and retention of soil organic matter (SOM) under MT decreased the bulk density (BD) by 3.4%, 2.6%, increased the soil organic carbon (SOC) by 27.9%, 15.2%, water stable macro-aggregates by 14.9%, 11.9%, macro-aggregate C by 5.2%, 4.3% over the initial status in the top two layers (0−5, 5−10 cm). Depletion of SOM induced by soil inversion under CT systems increased the BD (+1.5%, +2.2%), decreased the SOC (-9.8%, -15.7%) and macro-aggregates (-5.3%, -5.7%). The pronounced effect of cover crops due to litter inputs was reflected on SOC (+13.0%) and macro-aggregates (+7.2%) in the surface layer of 0−5 cm. Higher SOC stratification ratio observed in the soils under MT (1.73 to 1.79) indicated the effectiveness of MT in improving SOM accumulation. The study singles out SOC as the most dominant soil parameter affecting soil BD (r =-0.85 ** ), water stable macro-aggregates (r=0.90 ** ), macro-aggregate C (r=0.92 ** ) and soil moisture (r=0.82 ** ) in the surface layer.Tillage, SOC, bulk density, water stable aggregates, stratification ratio 406