Innovative crop management strategies for sustainable nutrient use and higher yield of rice in an Alfisol

Growing awareness of soil health and environmental quality has increased the emphasis on sustainable agricultural practices that reduce ecological harm. Consequently, the farm resources based natural and organic farming inputs have emerged as popular eco-friendly options for crop production and nutrient management. This trend may be broader movement toward harmonizing agricultural productivity with environmental stewardship. However, the sustainability of nutrients supplying potential of acidic soil under these condition is critical issue. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of these inputs, including natural farming components, on nutrient availability and rice yield in an Alfisol under a rice- maize cropping system. The study assessed five different treatments: T1 (control), T2 (complete natural farming), T3 (AI-NPOF- all India network programme on the organic farming package), T4 (integrated crop management-1), and T5 (integrated crop management- 2). The results revealed that organic farming inputs significantly (p≤0.05) increased nutrient availability, with available nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) levels rising by 27.8% and 33.7%, respectively, compared to the control. Natural farming did not lead to any significant (p≤0.05) increase in nutrient availability (N and P) compared to the other treatments, aside from the control plots. However, available potassium in natural farming plots was 1.81% and 5.15% higher compared to ICM-2 and ICM-1, respectively. Organic farming exhibited the highest DTPA-extractable zinc, while natural farming had the highest copper content. In terms of yield, grain and straw yields, as well as harvest index, were significantly (p≤0.05) higher under ICM-1, which recorded the highest grain yield (3.12 Mg ha⁻¹) and straw yield (4.50 Mg ha⁻¹). Although natural farming improved grain yield over the control, it was outperformed by both ICM-1 and ICM-2 treatments. Overall, ICM-1 showed the most favorable results in terms of both yield and harvest index, while organic farming contributed to higher soil organic carbon and micronutrient content. These findings underscore the importance of crop management practices in enhancing soil health and improving rice productivity, offering valuable insights into sustainable agricultural practices. In nutshell, intregrated crop management with biopesticide based insect pest mangment may be most suitable in acidic soil of humid subtropical climate for enhancing cabon content of soil, yield of rice crop with proper soil helath status of the area.