Assessing Soil Quality and Wheat Productivity under Manure Augmented Natural Farming

This study explores the potential of integrating natural farming (NF) practices with farmyard manure (FYM) to improve soil attributes and productivity in wheat intercropped chickpea cultivation. The research offers novel ground by providing a comprehensive evaluation of soil quality within the NF system, and identifying key soil indicators for rainfed wheat-growing region. A two years long (2018-19 and 2019-20) factorial experiment employed Jeevamrit concentrations, its application intervals, and FYM levels as factors, resulting in 12 combinations in a randomized block design. The study objectives were to evaluate the effectiveness of NF in wheat-chickpea intercropping, assessing impact of FYM integrated NF on soil quality, and to determine soil quality indicators under rainfed conditions. The results revealed that yield and soil attributes of wheat intercropped chickpea were significantly improved with FYM augmented NF system. The combined application of 10 t FYM ha − 1 and higher Jeevamrit concentration with 15-day interval significantly improved soil physical properties, including bulk density (1.43 g cm − 3 ), mean weight diameter of soil aggregates (1.15 mm), saturated hydraulic conductivity (8.29 cm h − 1 ), and plant available water (14.63 cm m − 1 ) during two years of experiment. The study yielded no evidence supporting the efficacy of NF on its own, as no considerable impact was observed on soil physical and chemical attributes from their initial status. However, soil biological parameters showed substantial enhancements (3.95% in microbial biomass carbon and 25.46% in dehydrogenase activity) over inorganic farming after two years of experimentation. Wheat grain-equivalent yield with biofarming treatments decreased by 8.15% over conventional farming (CF). Soil quality index was lowest under CF system (0.62), followed by natural farming (0.69) and improved to 0.90 with 10 t FYM ha − 1 addition. The study demonstrates the potential synergy between FYM and the NF approach, leading to improved soil attributes and agricultural productivity.