Assessing the Productivity of Forage Based Cropping System under Different Farming Practices in the Western Himalayan Region

A field experiment was conducted at CSK Himachal Pradesh, Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Palampur, Department of Organic Agriculture and Natural Farming, College of Agriculture, during 2019-20 to study the effect of conventional, organic and natural farming practices on growth and yield of fodder oat. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications with comprising of 5 farming practices (F0: Absolute control, F1: Organic farming package of practices, F2: Natural farming package of practices (SPNF), F3: 10 t FYM + Natural farming package of practices (SPNF), F4: Recommended fertilizer dose and 3 cropping system (CS1: Oat, CS2: Oat + Fodder Sarson, CS3: Oat + Berseem). The results concluded that, among the farming practices, higher number of shoots per meter square, dry matter accumulation, green fodder yield and dry fodder yield was recorded with recommended dose of fertilizer followed by 10 t FYM + natural farming package of practices (SPNF). In case of cropping systems, significantly higher number of shoots per square meter, dry matter accumulation, green and dry fodder yield was observed with oat + berseem cropping system as compared to oat alone.