Energy budgeting of different land management practices under common vegetable crops in the Nilgiris of South India

An experiment was conducted at ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam in Nilgiris, India for evaluating productivity and energy budgeting of land management practices with different conservation measures under common vegetable cropping sequence. Inward slope bench terraces (IBT) (2%) and outward sloped bench terraces (OBT) (5 and 10%) with riser protection, sloping lands (25%) with 1 m strip of vegetative barriers (VB) were practiced using potato (Solanum tuberosum)-cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) and carrot (Daucus carota)-beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) for two rotations. Highest productivity of potato (26.7 t ha⁻¹), cabbage (37.0 t ha⁻¹) and carrot (33.6 t ha⁻¹) were obtained from conservation practice (CP) of VB with geranium in 25% continuous slope Results revealed that potato required the highest input energy (51, 321 MJ ha) due to maximum energy (∼50%) consumed in seed, whereas energy consumed in chemical fertilizer was maximum in cabbage (∼60%), carrot (∼58%) and beans (∼47%) of the total input energy of the respective crops. Among all crops, potato produced maximum output energy ha⁻¹ and among CPs, output energy for all crops were maximum in VB of geranium in 25% continuous slope. Potato was the highest energy producer in spite of higher input energy, resulting in highest energy use efficiency (EUE). Less energy efficiency was found in all the crops under OBT (10%) with grass on the risers under farmers ’practice (FP) of nutrient management despite high crop yield. CP of VB in continuous slope is more suitable due to higher productivity, EUE and energy productivity for common vegetable crops in Nilgiris.