Response of broccoli to varied drip irrigation levels and organic mulches under mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh, India

Scarcity of irrigation water significantly hampers growth, yield, and quality of produce. To alleviate this issue, drip irrigation combined with mulching is frequently employed for water management in water-scarce regions. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of three irrigation levels [100%, 80% and 60% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc)] and two organic mulches (grass mulch and pine needle mulch) on yield and yield attributes of broccoli. The results indicated a significant difference in soil nutrients, plant growth and yield attributes. The highest levels of available soil nitrogen (333.8 kg ha^-1), phosphorus (57.8 kg ha^-1), potassium (375.8kg ha^-1) as well as the highest bacterial count [expressed as colony-forming units- (cfu)] (19.40×10⁵cfu g^-1), fungi count (6.47×10³cfu g^-1) and actinomycetes count (7.46×10^-3cfu g^-1) were observed in the best treatment consisting of drip irrigation @ 80% ETc + grass mulch at depths of 0-15 cm. The maximum plant height (51.1 cm), number of leaves per plant (18.9), minimum days to marketable maturity (102), head size (12.8 cm), head weight (316.3 g) and highest yield (242 q ha^-1) were recorded in the best treatment with highest returns and Benefit-Cost (B:C) ratio (3.64). Hence, drip irrigation @ 80% ETc along with grass mulch is recommended to be the most efficient and cost-effective in improving broccoli yield in the study area and its marketability for better economic returns.