Impact of Organic Residue Mulching Combined with Natural Farming Inputs on Growth Performance, Yield Attributes and Yields of Chickpea and Soil Health under Rainfed Climate of Bundelkhand Region

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic residue mulching (ORM) and natural farming inputs (NF) on growth and yield performance soil fertility status of chickpea during 2023-24 and 2024-25. The experiment was randomized twelve treatments including different organic leaf mulches, pulse straw, sugarcane residues, farmyard manure (FYM), adequate control, and no mulching organized by randomized block design. The results revealed that ORM addition significantly improved crop growth parameters including plant population, plant height, number of branches per plant and flowering compared to adequate control. Among treatments T12 was recorded higher plant height i.e. 8.30, 19.98, 28.72 and 39.51 cm at 15, 45, 60 and 75 DAS, respectively, during 2023-24 and further increased to 8.56, 21.05, 30.01 and 40.46 cm during 2024-25, with maximum height at harvest (49.51 and 50.12 cm) respectively. Consequently, maximum grain yield was obtained under T12 recorded the highest grain yield approximately 21% more than the control (1645 and 1665 kg ha⁻¹ during 2023-24 and 2024-25, respectively), followed by T9, T8, and T3. However, the lowest yield was recorded under no mulching treatment (T11). Results also revealed that the ORM enhanced soil organic carbon concentration over control treatment. Our finding indicating the available nutrients increased with addition of organic mulch and NF inputs. The higher performance of chickpea yield was mainly attributed due to retention of soil moisture, moderated soil temperature variation, enhanced microbial activity and improved nutrient availability. Overall, the study demonstrates that integration of ORM with NF inputs is an effective and sustainable approach for improving chickpea productivity and enhancing soil health for long-term agricultural sustainability.