Vol. 6, Special Issue 4 (2018)
Performance of relay crops in different fallow cycles of slash and burn agriculture in Northeast India
Author(s): HC Kalita and Vishram Ram
Abstract: The slashing and burning of secondary forest biomass is a key traditional hill agricultural practice, which is locally known as jhum cultivation, followed over the centuries by indigenous people of Northeast India. In this system of farming, farmers cultivate different species of crops in mixture for only one season (March to September). However till today, the performances of relay crops on this system of framings are lacking. With this problem a field experiment was undertaken in Jhum fields of Mokokchung district of Nagaland. Field experimental plots of 3 fallow periods (20 years, 10 years and 5 years) under both burnt (unmulched) and unburnt (mulched) were selected and relay crops (Pea and Rajmah) were sown at 20 days before the harvest of jhum crops in Changki village (Nagaland) during 2 years of consecutive cropping phase. The yield attributing characters and yield of relay crops pea and rajmah increased with the increase in the length of jhum cycle i.e 20 years followed by 10 and 5 years crop phase of jhum cycles. The relative higher yields of pea and rajmah grown as relay crops were achieved in burnt jhum fields as compared to mulched fields. A substantial yield can be achieved by growing relay crop from jhum field with improved soil fertility status. Overall the medium length (10 years) jhum cycle under burnt situation seems to be the optimum fallow length for relay crops. In conclusion, It was noticeable that burning treatments and longer fallow cycle supported higher yields of relay crops and also maintained higher soil fertility levels till 2nd year of cropping.
Pages: 166-172 | 623 Views 64 Downloads
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How to cite this article:
HC Kalita and Vishram Ram. Performance of relay crops in different fallow cycles of slash and burn agriculture in Northeast India. International Journal of Chemical Studies. 2018; 6(4): 166-172.
