Evaluation of natural farming system in capsicum for sustainable plant health management

Abstract The indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers has seriously threatened the ecosystem and led to the eradication of beneficial microflora and fauna, besides having adverse effects on human health. Natural farming (NF) offers an environmentally friendly and sustainable approach to address these issues. In order to compare the impact of a NF system with conventional farming (CF) system for capsicum cultivation in the mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh, India, the current study was conducted during 2023 and 2024. The experiment was initiated in February for both years and the cropping period continued until September 2023 and 2024, respectively. The factorial experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design having ten replications per treatment. At the time of land preparation, ghanjeevamrit was applied @1.5 t/ha. After seed treatment with beejamrit, capsicum seedlings were transplanted in the field. French bean was grown as an intercrop, while finger millet was planted as a border crop. For nutrient management, jeevamrit was applied as a 10% drenching solution at 15-day intervals. Need-based sprays of rog nashi dawayain and keetnashi astra were applied for the management of diseases and insect pests. In CF plots, standard recommended agronomic practices were followed. Soil analysis revealed significant improvements in the physico-chemical and microbiological properties of the soil under the NF system. In addition, a significant reduction in soil-borne diseases and aphid population was observed compared to the CF system. The NF system recorded a higher average crop equivalent yield (365.8 q/ha) and greater net returns (₹11,71,660/ha) compared to the CF system, which produced 347.6 q/ha yield and net returns of ₹7,43,570/ha. These results indicate that the NF system can be effectively adopted for capsicum cultivation to improve soil health, promote sustainable plant health management, enhance biodiversity, reduce the cost of cultivation, and increase economic returns. However, further research is needed to develop effective management strategies for foliar diseases such as powdery mildew under the NF system.