Soil Properties and Soil Management Practices in Commercial Organic and Conventional Vegetable Farms in Kathmandu Valley

Abstract

Soil management practices determine the long term productivity of soil. A comparative study of commercial organic and conventional vegetable farming systems was carried out to find out impact of different farming systems on soil properties. This study was executed in Kathmandu valley (Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur districts) among 30 organic and 30 conventional commercial vegetable farmers. Semi-structured questionnaire survey and soil physical and chemical analysis were performed to gather the required information. Results showed that bulk soil pH was significantly higher in the organic field than in the conventional field. Soil organic matter and available soil potassium were significantly higher in amount in the organic farm than in the conventional farm. Total soil nitrogen content and available soil nitrogen content were significantly higher in amount in the conventional farm than in the organic farm. Conventional farmers were applied significantly higher amount of chicken manure and biozyme as compared to organic farmers. Organic farmers applied significantly higher amount of urban compost and bone meal as compared to conventional farmers. Farmers perceived productivity was increasing in trend in the organic farms whereas it was declining in the conventional farms.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njst.v15i1.12005 Nepal Journal of Science and TechnologyVol. 15, No.1 (2014) 13-22