Fruit-orchard farmers are taking on the challenge of changing the way they have been farming for decades. We need to see ourselves in a transitional journey that continuously challenges us to take on more and more conservation practices in orchards. Conservation-horticulture in fruit orchards is a successful model of sustainable soil-management. After its demonstration in mango orchards by ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, several farmers are adopting this system. Conservation-horticulture involves a cocktail of many good practices that favour improvement of soil and environment, like, cultivation and use of annual crops and crop-rotation, low-cost means of implementing many forms of integrated land-management for conserving natural diversity, and protect/enhance soil biodiversity and productivity. Conservation horticulture is based on optimizing yields and profits, to achieve a balance of horticultural, economic and environmental benefits. It is the integration of ecological management with modern scientific horticultural production, and provides a means for preventing further destruction of precious soils, reduces pest and disease pressures, ensures higher and more stable yields while reducing production costs (especially energy-input for tillage), backstops against any adverse effects of climate change, and increases labour-productivity. Fruit farmers are shifting to i) minimum soil disturbance, ii) direct planting using hand-operated planters, animal- or tractor-drawn direct planters, iii) no burning of crop residue, or fallow vegetation, iv) crop and cover crop residues stay on the surface, and v) no uncontrolled grazing.
Wherever such conversion has taken place, an analysis of conservation-horticulture gardens shows that shifting to conservation horticulture has i)built-up soil organic-matter and reduced nutrient loss, ii) controlled weeds, iii) enhanced carbon-storage, iv) enhanced fruit yields at lower costs, v) conserved the environment, vi) enhanced nitrogen-fixation and nutrient-cycling through inclusion of food legumes and cover crops, vii) increased soil organic-matter and nutrient availability, thus reducing a need for chemical fertilizers, viii) improved soil-structure and ability of the soil to absorb and hold more moisture for crop-growth, and most importantly ix) trees and inter-/ cover crops together enhance catching, storing and releasing water efficiently, and reduce soil-erosion. What is more important is that there has been a significant improvement in biodiversity in these orchards; soil-fauna like earthworms, micro-arthropods, and centi- and milli-pedes and other primary shredders have drastically increased in number. This has had a profound influence on pest and disease dynamics in the orchard. Significant reduction in pest and disease load has occurred, and so has a notable reduction in the number of sprays of pesticides. Typical data on soil-change following conservation horticultural practices over five years in a mango orchard on Alfisol is presented below:
Soil changes following conservation horticultural practices over five years in a mango orchard on an Alfisol
Conservation horticulture practices in a 36 year old alphonso mango orchard at IIHR, Bengaluru
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