Assessment of natural farming practices on productivity and profitability of a wheat–chickpea intercropping system

Combining intercropping systems with organic amendments has the potential to enhance both crop productivity and soil health. The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of wheat and chickpea under organic amendments like ghanjeevamrit and jeevamrit with and without mulching, to identify economically viable strategies for enhancing productivity. A field experiment was conducted for two years during the winter season (2019–2020 and 2020–2021) at Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India, which comprises combination of ghanjeevamrit, jeevamrit and mulching. The experiment was conducted in randomised block design (RBD) with 3 replications. The wheat equivalent yield and economics of wheat-chickpea intercropping system were studied under a sub-temperate humid zone. Data showed that application of cow-based organic preparations (ghanjeevamrit- added at rate of 0.5 t ha-1, jeevamrit-1st spray at rate 5 %, 2nd spray 7.5 % and subsequent sprays 10 % jeevamrit in the water with the rate of 200 L acre-1 at 21 days interval) and mulching significantly affected wheat equivalent yield and economic of the intercropping system. Based on pooled data of both years, the wheat equivalent yield of wheat-chickpea cropping system was found significantly higher with application of ghanjeevamrit + jeevamrit + mulching and was statistically at par with application of ghanjeevamrit + jeevamrit and lowest was recorded with control treatment. Similarly, the application of ghanjeevamrit + jeevamrit + mulching resulted in significantly higher gross and net returns, followed by ghanjeevamrit + jeevamrit, whereas the lowest returns were observed with ghanjeevamrit applied alone.