Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
organic farming, rainfed condition, areas with limited resource facilities and also present
scenario of climate change. Under climate change scenario, agriculture is experiencing
adverse effects of increasing temperature, shifting seasonal rainfall and frequent occurrence
of natural calamity. As a consequence, the time has come when farming should not always be
input responsive rather it should be conservative in nature and to be planned in manner for
efficient utilization of available resources. In the operational area, the pointed gourd is
generally experiencing a long dry spell (from the time of planting to next 3-4 months crop
growth period) as well as low crop growth rate, weed population hinder the crop production.
Thus present investigation was planned to evaluate the effect of different types of mulching
on growth and productivity of pointed gourd under climate change condition.
Methodology
Present study was designed as per mandate of On-Farm Trial in farmer’s field of Raninagar II
Block, Murshidabad, West Bengal during consecutive two years 2020-21 and 2021-22 by the
Dhaanyaganga Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sargachhi. There
were four treatments including T1: Control (Without mulch), T2: Black Polythene Mulch, T3:
Paddy Straw Mulch, T 4: Water Hyacinth Mulch. The pointed gourd (cv. Kajli) was planted in
1 st fortnight of February and grown for 10-11 months. The experiment was laid out in
Randomized Block Design with five replications.
Results
From the pooled data of two years, it was clearly noticed that all mulch treatments resulted
significantly better plant growth compared to the control (without mulch). The vine length
and vine girth of pointed gourd (at 90 DAS) was maximum when the crop was planted with
black polythene mulch. It was followed by the paddy straw mulch and water hyacinth mulch.
At 90 DAS, the un mulched plots showed a greater diversity of weed species than the
mulched plots. The number of weed and dry weight of weed per m 2 showed significant
differences in the different mulched treatments. Plots mulched with black polythene had the
lowest number of invading weed species followed by straw mulch. Black polythene and straw
mulch proved effective for weed suppression than the un mulched treatments which was
traditionally practiced in the area. Weed infestation resulted in 20-25% yield loss. Among the
mulch treatments Black Polythene mulch effectively controlled weeds by cutting down solar
radiation, resulting in etiolated growth and the eventual death of weeds under the flim. Ossom
et al. (2001) also observed significant differences in weed control between mulched and un
mulched plots of sweet potato.
Results of pooled analysis (Table) showed that application of black polythene mulch recorded
significantly higher yield (23.87 tonnes/ha) followed by the paddy straw mulching (22.03 t/
ha). When the entire effort and results were transferred in terms of economics, it was clearly
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Climate resilient agriculture for risk mitigation