Optimizing minimum tillage technique and economic evaluation for field pea production in rice fallow lands in Manipur

Introduction

Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important leguminous crop grown in the rice-fallow ecosystems of North Eastern India, where its cultivation follows rice harvest. Usually cultivated for dry pods and variety of snacks. It is an important winter crop next to chickpea and French bean. Area-wise production and productivity of Field pea in India is 417.87 million hectares with production of 3942 million tonnes (Maity et al, 2017) [7] . It is cultivated in Mediterranean region of Europe & West Asia before 10000 years ago (Mithen, 2006, Zohary, 2024) [8,17] . Field pea is hypogeal can be planted deep depending on the moisture. Rice-fallow covers an area of 22.3 M ha in South Asia, having maximum acreage in India of 88.3% (Gumma et al, 2016) [3] . These rice fallow land typically faces issues such as soil degradation and poor moisture retention, which can affect subsequent crop yields (Verhulst et al, 2011., Singh et al, 2012., Ghosh et al, 2016) [16,14,2] . Minimum tillage, which involves less soil disturbance compared to conventional tillage, has been suggested as a sustainable agricultural practice that may improve crop productivity and economic returns by conserving soil moisture, reducing labor costs, and increasing yield potential. It has been used to alleviate the negative effects caused by intensive tillage practices and implements theat effective and sustainable agriculture requires a deeper understanding of the impacts of minimum tillage practices on soil physical properties (Rusu, 2014., Li et al, 2019., Li et al, 2020) [13,5,6] . This study aims to assess the economic impact of minimum tillage for field pea variety Aman (IPF 5-19) cultivation in rice fallows in two different villages Mayangkhang and Hengbung village of Manipur. By comparing demonstration plots using minimum tillage with local practices, this research provides valuable insights into the financial viability of adopting such sustainable agricultural practices in the region.

Materials and Methods Study Area and Crop

The study was conducted where a field trial is superintended during four cropping seasons (2016-17, 2018-19, 2020-21, and 2022-23) in Mayangkhang and Hengbung villages in Manipur. The soil texture is sandy loam and clay loam respectively with optimum pH range of 5.6-6.5 and well drain. The field pea variety Aman (IPF 5-19), a legume widely grown in rice fallows for its nitrogen-fixing properties and ability to improve soil health is used for this study. In Mayangkhang and Hengbung village rice fallow land system is adopted with 20 beneficiaries in Myangkhang and 21 in Hengbung village. Each plot size is 5m x 3m (15m 2 ) in an area of five hectares under rice-fallow experiment in both villages. Nutrient management is done with application of 60 kg N, 80 kg P and 70 kg K/ha as basal and 60 kg N/ha on 30 days after sowing and farm yard manure (FYM) is added at 20kg/ha. Irrigation is done regularly once in a week. Weeding is done 15 days after sowing with subsequent weeding as required. Harvest was done 120 days after sowing.

Experimental Design

The experiment compared two types of agricultural practices for field pea cultivation. a. Demo plots: Plots where minimum tillage was applied (Figure 1 and2). b. Local plots: Plots where traditional tillage methods were used (Figure 1 and 2)

Each village had both Demo and Local plots, and the data for yield, gross cost, net income, and Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) were collected and analyzed annually.

Parameters Recorded

The yield of field pea in quintals per hectare is recorded for both Demo and Local plots at the time of harvest around 120 days after sowing. The total expenses incurred in the cultivation process were calculated as gross cost (Rs.). It includes all direct and indirect costs such as labor, seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, and equipment usage.

Net income was calculated subtracting the gross cost from the gross revenue. The net income from field pea cultivation, calculated by following formula:

Where, Gross Revenue=Yield (q/ha) × Market Price per quintal (Rs/q) Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) is calculated as the ratio of net income to gross cost. It indicates the economic profitability of the cultivation system. The benefit cost ratio (BCR) was calculated using the following formula by Reddy et al., (2004) [12] .

Benefit cost ratio (BCR) is an indicator of the relative economic performance of the treatments and a ratio of more than one indicates the economic viability of the treatment compared with the control treatment (Aziz et al., 2012) [1] . A BCR greater than 1 indicates a profitable venture, while a BCR less than 1 suggests the system is not profitable. The profit gap, extension yield gap and Technology Index is also recorded where,

Data Analysis

For each year, yield data for both Demo and Local plots were compared to assess the effect of minimum tillage on field pea productivity. For gross cost (Rs), the cost of cultivating field pea in both types of plots was recorded to assess the financial investment. Net Income (Rs) was calculated from the difference between gross revenue and gross cost for both Demo and Local plots. The BCR was calculated to compare the profitability of both farming methods. The BCR was used to assess the economic feasibility of adopting minimum tillage for field pea cultivation in rice-fallow systems. The results were summarized for each year and compared to determine trends and differences in economic performance between the Demo and Local plots over the four years.

Statistical Analysis

The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to assess trends in yield, gross cost, net income, and BCR over the study period. The economic performance of both practices was compared using the calculated BCR to determine which method provided better economic returns.

Results and Discussion Mayangkhang Village

As per the data in Table 1and Figure 3, the average yield in the Demo plots increased from 13.62 q/ha in 2016-17 to 14.00 q/ha in 2022-23, showing a consistent increase over the years. In The BCR for the Demo plots remained constant at 1.68:1 throughout the study period, indicating consistent profitability. The Local plots had a BCR of 1.35:1, showing lower returns compared to the Demo plots. Hengbung Village: A careful scrutiny of the data in Table 2 and Figure 5 show that in Hengbung village, the Demo plots recorded an increase in yield from 13.26 q/ha in 2016-17 to 13.82 q/ha in 2022-23. The Local plots showed a steady yield increase, from 10.90 q/ha to 11.60 q/ha over the same period. 2, Figure 6). The Local plots showed a smaller increase in net income, from Rs 12,448 to Rs 13,223.47. The BCR for the Demo plots was consistent at 1:48:1, indicating higher profitability compared to the Local plots, which had a BCR of 1:29:1 (Table 2). The results from both villages clearly indicate that minimum tillage practices for field pea cultivation in both Mayangkhang and Hengbung villages consistently outperformed local traditional tillage practices in terms of yield (Figure 3,5), net income (Figure 4,6) and BCR. The increase in yield in Demo plots (Figure 3,5) can be attributed to better moisture conservation and improved structure due to reduced tillage. This enhanced yield directly contributed to higher net income despite the slight increase in gross cost over the years. The higher BCR in the Demo plots (Table 1,2) indicates that minimum tillage is more economically viable compared to the Local plots. While both villages showed similar trends, Mayangkhang demonstrated slightly higher yields and net incomes compared to Hengbung (Table 1,2,3), possibly due to variations in soil quality, climate, and local farming practices even with the same agronomic parameters adopted. However, the overall findings suggest that minimum tillage is a beneficial practice for enhancing the profitability of field pea cultivation in rice-fallow systems.

A Comparison of Profitability between the Demo Plots and the Local Plots in field pea cultivation in Mayangkhang and

Hengbung.

In Table 1 and2, comparison was made to record the profitability of the demo plots relative to the local plots in field pea cultivation in Mayangkhang and Hengbung village. The financial analysis reveals that, by adopting improved technology appropriate to local conditions, the cost of field pea production could be reduced while mean net profit recorded is Rs.16,630.80/-in Mayangkhang village and Rs.9643.17/-in Hengbung (Table 3). Mayangkhang village shows higher profitability which is 43.1% higher than Hengbung village in average (Table 3). The increment in yield of demo plot from local plot or the extension gap yield (demo plot yield-local plot yield) in Mayangkhang is 2.395 q/ha in average for the four years and in Hengbung village, the extension gap is 2.298 q/ha (Table 4). Mayangkhang village recorded better yield with an increase of 4% yield in average as compared to Hengbung village (Table 4). Technology Index is given in Table 5. The range of the technology index was 14.79 to 19.09% in Mayangkhang and 16.06 and 17.80 in Hengbung (Table 5). The year 2022-23 had the lowest technology index, while the year 2016-17 had the highest (Table 5). Higher technology index reflected the insufficient extension services for the transfer of technology (Singha et al., 2020., Ojha & Bisht, 2020., Raghav et al., 2020) [15,9,11] . Similar findings are observed by Yogesh et al, 2020 and Telem et al, 2024 [10] .

Conclusion

This study highlights the significant economic benefits of adopting minimum tillage practices for field pea cultivation in rice fallows in the Mayangkhang and Hengbung villages. The demonstration plots consistently showed higher yields, net incomes, and BCR compared to local practices, making minimum tillage a promising sustainable agricultural practice. The higher profitability and productivity of Mayangkhang village (sandy loam) over Hengbung village (clay loam) with the same agronomic parameters will be the soil properties and environment therefore further studies could be done to study the relation of soil physical, chemical and biological properties with field pea cultivation in rice fallow system. Encouraging farmers in rice-fallow regions to adopt minimum tillage could lead to enhanced productivity and economic stability, contributing to the overall sustainability of agricultural systems in the region.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors are grateful to director of ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad and ICAR-ATARII VII, UMIAM for funding the project and appreciate the faculty of FGI-CAS, Hengbung for intellectual contribution and the farmers for their support and cooperation.

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