Productivity enhancement in shifting cultivated lands through biofertilizer and micro-dosing of NPK in Eastern Himalayan Region

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted in the jhum/shifting cultivated lands of Chandel (Lambong village), Churachandpur (Henkot village), Tamenglong (Noney village) and Ukhrul (Ramva village) districts of Manipur during kharif seasons of 2013 and 2014. The first experiment was done by taking four crops (rice, maize, groundnut and soybean)with two treatment combinations i. e. improved jhum management practices (seed biopriming with Azotobacter+PSB and micro-dosing of NPK and traditional jhum practices (without application of any plant nutrient). The second experiment consisted of diversified cropping systems (sole cropping of rice, maize, soybean and groundnut and strip intercropping of rice+soybean, rice+groundnut, maize+soybean and maize+groundnut) under improved jhum management practices compared with traditional jhum practices. The results showed that improved jhum management practices recorded better growth and produced higher yield of different crops as compared to those of traditional jhum practices. Among the sole and strip cropping systems, maximum rice equivalent yield was recorded in sole groundnut (6.99 t/ha) followed by maize+groundnut (4.82 t/ha), rice+groundnut (4.64 t/ha) and sole soybean (3.64 t/ha) with the improved jhum management. Sole groundnut with improved jhum management also recorded maximum gross returns ($ 1526.67/ha), net returns ($ 1116.67/ha), returns per rupee invested ($ 3.72) and crop profitability ($ 10.90/ha/day). Incorporating legumes in cropping systems also considerably improved the fertility status of the jhum lands.