Economic analysis on chilli production in the Gangetic alluvial soil

Primary data were collected from on farm trials on four popular chilli varieties of Varanasi region at four levels of fertilization to test the farmer's practice of crop dressing with N, P and K fertilizers after every picking of green chilli. Among the tested varieties, highest yield was recorded with ARCH-226 but highest benefit with LCA-235 varieties for this region. Application of fertilizer N₃₀₀ P₁₂₀ K₁₂₀ kg ha⁻¹ enhanced 17.5% yield of chilli over recommended N₁₅₀ P₈₀ K₈₀ kg ha⁻¹ fertilizer application. An additional yield of 41.4 q ha⁻¹ green chilli was resumed when treated with farmer's practice of application N₄₀₀ P₁₅₀ K₁₅₀ kg ha⁻¹ over the control. The estimated cost: benefit ratio was highest (1: 2.6 to 2.94) in LCA-235 followed by ARCH-226 (1: 1.78 to 2.18) and lowest (1: 0.58 to 0.95) in ARCH-006 under varied level of fertilization. Highest cost: benefit ratio was obtained when the crop grown under N₄₀₀ P₁₅₀ K₁₅₀ kg ha⁻¹ level of fertilization, irrespective of varieties. An increase in 30% factor productivity with additional benefit to the tune of rupees sixteen thousands per hectare was realized when the crop grown under repeated top dressing with N, P and K after every picking of green chilli as compared to recommended fertilizer application. A mean increase in 35% factor productivity was realized under intervention of variation in seed. The linear equations was a good fit for leaf net C- assimilation rate (R²= 0.97), and yield (R²= 0.94) and the slope of the trend line indicated a steady increase of 2.3 μmolcm⁻²s⁻¹ net C-assimilation rate and 13.7 q/ha green chilli production with additional application of N@100, P @ 20 and K @ 30 kg/ha.