Energy use and Economic Analysis for Achieving Target Yield through Site Specific Nutrient Management in Soybean (Glycine max L.)- Chickpea Cropping System (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

Background: The measure of energy flow in crop production system provides a good indicator of the production of technological aspects of crop production systems in agriculture. Sustainable agricultural management technologies should be studied in terms of increased productivity, profitability, energy saving and efficiency of agricultural inputs usage by using efficiency indices and sustainable indicators. Methods: A field experiment was conducted at Agriculture Research Station, Janawada, Bidar during kharif and rabi seasons for two consecutive years (2014-15 and 2015-16) to know the energy use for achieving target yield. The experiement was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The treatments viz., The two genotypes of soybean (JS335 and DSB 21) and chickpea (JG 11 and GBM 2) were tested for target yield of 2.0 t ha-1, 2.5 t ha-1, 3.0 t ha-1, 3.5 t ha-1, farmers practice and RDF were tested in medium black soils in randomized block design with three replications. The soil testing was carried out to determine the quantity of major nutrient for different target yields. Result: The experimental results revealed that the significantly higher energy efficiency (5.28 MJ ha-1), net energy (1,71,039.00 MJ ha-1), energy productivity (0.40 kg MJ-1), energy intensity (1,71,039.00 MJ ha-1) in physical terms (13.29 MJ kg-1) and economic terms (3.68 MJ Rs.-1), crop profitability (723.53 Rs.ha-1 day-1), system profitability (417.05 Rs.ha-1day-1) and relative economic efficiency (2.75) and soybean equivalent yield (5683 kg ha-1) were noticed in JS 335/JG 11 + target yield 3.0 t ha-1 compared to rest of the treatments. Thus, it could be concluded that various efficiency indices also used as alternative indices for achieving target yield in cropping system.