ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted at MARS, UAS, Dharwad, during the Kharif 2023-24 aimed to evaluate the performance of groundnut genotypes under organic, natural and conventional farming practices with four farming practices [Organic, Natural Farming, Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Recommended Package of Practices (RPP)] on main plots and four groundnut genotypes (Dh-256, G2-52, DBG-4 and Dh-245) on subplots with three replications with split plot design. The results indicated that INM significantly outperformed other practices by recording higher pod and haulm yield (2748 and 3278 kg ha-1, respectively) and RPP was on par with INM. Among the genotypes, Dh-256 exhibited higher pod and haulm yield (2792 and 3384 kg ha-1, respectively). Within the interactions, INM with Dh-256 recorded significantly higher pod and haulm yield (3195 and 3772 kg ha-1, respectively) compared to the rest of the treatment combinations. Significantly higher microbial biomass carbon (279.43 mg kg 1 soil) was recorded under organic farming than other practices. Genotypes did not significantly influence microbial biomass carbon (MBC). Among the interactions, organic farming with Dh-256 recorded significantly higher MBC (282.07 mg kg 1 soil) than all other treatments at 90 DAS. INM recorded higher gross ( 1,91,314 ha-1) and net returns ( 87,891 ha-1) than other farming practices. While, B:C ratio (1.98) was higher in natural farming and RPP was on par with natural farming. Genotype Dh-256 recorded higher gross returns ( 1,94,441 ha 1), net returns ( 93, 975 ha-1) and B:C ratio (1.98) than other genotypes. In interactions, INM with Dh-256 recorded higher gross ( 2,22,375 ha-1) and net returns ( 1,17, 992 ha-1) than other treatments and RPP with Dh-256 was on par with INM with Dh-256. Natural farming with Dh-256 genotype recorded comparatively higher B:C ratio (2.33) and INM and RPP with Dh-256 were on par with natural farming with Dh-256.