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How sustainable is organic management in cassava? Evidences from yield, soil quality, energetics and economics in the humid tropics of south India.

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Title How sustainable is organic management in cassava? Evidences from yield, soil quality, energetics and economics in the humid tropics of south India.
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Creator Seena Radhakrishnan A. R. Suja, G. and Sreekumar, J.
 
Subject Cassava, ecofriendly, productivity, soil quality, energy output, net income
 
Description Not Available
Sustainable alternative agricultural practices like organic farming have evinced interests due to public consciousness
about food safety, environmental pollution, soil quality and human health. The study aimed to
evaluate the productivity, soil quality, energetic and economic aspects under organic vs conventional management
in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). Field experiments were conducted over a three year period at ICARCentral
Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, India in split plot design with three varieties of
cassava, H-165, Sree Vijaya and Vellayani Hraswa, in main plots and five production systems, traditional,
conventional, integrated and two types of organic (without and with microbial inoculants) in sub plots. Organic
management (without microbial inoculants) (27.26 t ha􀀀 1) produced insignificant yield increase ( + 2.40%) over
conventional system (26.62 t ha􀀀 1). The industrial (H-165) as well as domestic varieties (Sree Vijaya, Vellayani
Hraswa) of cassava exhibited similar performance under the different production systems. At the end of the third
crop, soil chemical properties like pH and organic C were significantly enhanced by 1.15 unit and 22.58% under
organic (with microbial inoculants) over conventional system, whereas the soil porosity, cation exchange capacity
and exchangeable Ca were significantly higher by 9.36, 27.32 and 29.10% in the organic (without microbial
inoculants) over conventional. Besides, biological improvement of the soil with higher counts of bacteria,
fungi and actinomycetes and greater activity of soil enzymes like acid phosphatase and dehydrogenase were also
observed under organic (with microbial inoculants) system. Both the organic practices (without and with microbial
inoculants) scored higher soil quality index (SQI) over the rest, but similarly (0.98 and 0.94 respectively).
The soil pH, exchangeable Ca, dehydrogenase enzyme activity and porosity were the decisive factors that governed
SQI in the present study. Organic system (without microbial inoculants) proved to be the most energy
efficient as evidenced from the highest energy output (152.63 × 103MJ ha􀀀 1), net energy (143.55 × 103MJ
ha􀀀 1), energy use efficiency (16.80) and energy productivity (3.00 kg MJ􀀀 1). Organic system generated the
highest net income (US $ 4977.57 ha􀀀 1) statistically similar to conventional (US $ 4833.10 ha􀀀 1) and organic
with microbial inoculants (US $ 4720.69 ha􀀀 1). Hence organic practices can be recommended for sustainable
cassava production.
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi, India
 
Date 2022-10-28T09:35:31Z
2022-10-28T09:35:31Z
2021-11-11
 
Type Research Paper
 
Identifier Seena Radhakrishnan A. R. Suja, G. and Sreekumar, J. 2021. How sustainable is organic management in cassava? Evidences from yield, soil quality, energetics and economics in the humid tropics of south India. Scientia Horticulturae, 293 (2022) 110723, doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2021.110723.
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http://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/handle/123456789/74731
 
Language English
 
Relation Not Available;
 
Publisher Elsevier Publishers