Assessment of Yield, Quality and Economics of Kiwifruit ( Actinidia deliciosa cv. Allison) Production as Influenced by Integrated Nitrogen Management Strategies in Indian Lower Himalayas

Purpose Kiwifruit ( Actinidia deliciosa cv. Allison) is an important fruit crop of Indian lower Himalayas which respond significantly to nutrient management. Therefore, we aimed to improve the biochemical composition and fruit productivity, and the economics of kiwifruit under three contrasting nutrient management systems viz. Chemical Fertilizer Based System (CFBS), Organic Farming Based System (OFBS) and the Subhash Palekar’s Natural Farming System (SPNFS) in Indian lower Himalayas . The OFBS system has various combinations of vermicompost (Vco), poultry manure (PM) and farmyard manure (FYM), SPNFS has application of Jeevaamrit (JM) and Ghana Jeevaamrit (GJ) with FYM, in contrast to application of NPK and FYM in CFBS. Methods We studied the changes in kiwifruit yields, biochemical composition, and soil properties and economics of fruit production under different nutrient management systems. The total kiwifruit yield (kg tree −1 ) was partitioned into three grades viz. grade-A (fruit weight > 70 g), grade-B (fruit weight 50–70 g) and grade-C (fruit weight < 50 g) and was analysed for biochemical quality attributes viz. titratable acidity (TA), total soluble sugars (TSS) and their ratio, total sugars (TS), reducing sugars (RS), non-reducing sugars (NRS), and ascorbic acid (AA). A change in macro-and micro-nutrients, and soil microbial and enzymatic activity in response to nutrient management systems was studied. The economics of kiwifruit production under three systems was appraised based on average cost of cash inputs, average gross returns, average net returns and the benefit–cost ratio (B:C ratio). Results The results revealed a significantly ( p < 0.05) highest kiwifruit yield (30.7 kg vine −1 ) under Vco 400 PM 400 + FYM 40 treatment of OFBS system, and was statistically at par with JM 30 GJ 3 + FYM 40 (28.7 kg vine −1 ) of SPNFS and N 800 P 600 K 800 + FYM 40 (29.2 kg vine −1 ) of CFBS. The proportion of Grade-A (fruit weight > 70 g) fruits, which fetch higher market price, was recorded highest (20.3%) in JM 30 GJ 3 + FYM 40 of SPNFS followed by Vco 400 PM 400 + FYM 40 treatment (19.6%) under OFBS and N 800 P 600 K 800 + FYM 40 (15.6%) of CFBS. The Vco 400 PM 400 + FYM 40 treatment of OFBS resulted in significantly higher TSS content (16.9°B), TS (11.8%), RS (8.3%), NRS (3.3%) and AA (81.6 mg 100 g −1 ), compared with the other treatments. Nutrient management in Vco 400 PM 400 + FYM 40 of OFBS resulted in significantly higher soil organic C content in surface (0–15 cm) soil layer; which was ~ 35% higher than the CFBS. Soil organic C content in SPNFS was higher by ~ 11–21% over CFBS. The soil organic C stocks were significantly higher in SPNFS followed by OFBS. There was a gain of 4.78 and 6.40 Mg ha −1 of C stocks of surface soils under Vco 400 PM 400 + FYM 40 of OFBS and JM 30 GJ 3 + FYM 40 of SPNFS, respectively over CFBS. These results revealed that CFBS was more profitable with a benefit-cost (B-C) ratio of 12.4:1, followed by JM 30 GJ 3 + FYM 40 of SPNFS (12.2:1), despite lower yields. The lowest B-C ratio for Vco 400 PM 400 + FYM 40 treatment of OFBS (~ 1/3 rd of B-C ratio in CFBS) was ascribed to higher input costs. Conclusion These results showed that JM 30 GJ 3 + FYM 40 of SPNFS resulted in comparable economic returns profits and quality fruits to those produced under CFBS.