Evaluating growth attributes and soil heath under long term implementation of organic farming in fodder cowpea

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of organic and conventional production system on foddercowpea growth and soil health. This study was conducted in a farmers field of Erode, Tamil Nadu in arandomized block design with three replications. For the study, six farmers' fields involving organic (ORG)practices and one conventional (CON) production system were selected. Soil and plant samples werecollected at the time of harvest and analyzed for growth, and soil health parameters. The results revealed thatsignificant differences were found in the growth parameters of fodder cowpea among the organic andconventional production system. The analyzed chemical properties viz., soil reaction, electrical conductivity(EC), macro nutrients, and biological indicators viz., soil organic carbon (SOC), organic matter (SOM),microbial biomass carbon (MBC), culturable microbes, and yield were found to be higher in organicallymanaged soils than the conventional farming method.