Standardization of organic module for sustainable production of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum L.)

A field experiment on the standardization of organic module for production of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum L.) was conducted during rabi season of 2009–10 to 2012–13 (four years). The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) consisting of three organic modules (M₁, M₂ and M₃) and two fenugreek varieties (AFg-1 and RMt-305) with four replications. Findings of present study showed significant differences among the performance of different organic modules tested for two fenugreek varieties. Organic module-1 (M1)comprising of soil application of vermi-compost @5 t/ha+ foliar spray of 5% garlic extract @ 2.0 kg/ha + 2% neem oil @ 5 litre/ha+ soil application of neem cake @150 kg/ha and Trichoderma @ 2.5 kg/ha, seed treatment with Rhizobium @100 ml/kg seed, PSB @ 100 ml/kg seed and Trichoderma @10 g/kg seed exhibited earliest seed germination and maximum plant height (5.78, 19.69, 43.39 and 50.97 cm) at 30, 60, 90 DAS and at harvest, respectively with maximum number of branches (6.76/plant), number of pods (42/plant), number of seeds (16.01/pod), highest grain yield (1515.21 kg/ha), gross return (100004) and net returns (66741) in fenugreek crop. Similarly significant differences were recorded in the performance of fenugreek varieties under different organic modules and the highest plant height, maximum number of branches and pods per plant, highest number of seeds per pod with maximum grain yield (1568.36 kg/ha), gross returns (103512), net returns (171399) with higher B: C ratio (2.22) were recorded in fenugreek variety AFg-1 than variety RMt-305. Cultivation of fenugreek variety AFg-1 with the application of Module-1 exhibited maximum values for all the growth parameters, yield attributing characters, maximum grain yield, net returns with improvement in soil organic carbon % (OC) and soil fertility (available N, P and K) after 4 crop cycles. Hence, variety AFg-1 is recommended to grow organically with the application of Module-1 (M1) under semi-arid environmental conditions.