Field Experimentation of Vegetable Production

Abstract

Organic farming relies on locally available resources and methods. Knowing the best choice among many alternatives would be valuable to increase production under a given environmental condition. Thus, this chapter is based on field experimentation of three crops, viz., carrot, kidney bean, and potato, which were selected for their importance as non-staple commercial crops and significance in their share of daily food consumption, as is known through key informant interview. The study was conducted in Chitwan District of Nepal by associating with a farmers’ group for organic farming. About ten plots sized 7.5m² each were allocated for each crop, among which two plots were allocated for experimenting crop production with and without irrigation, two plots for with and without mulching using straws, two plots for with and without self-made bio-pesticides, and the remaining four plots for pruning at the rate 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75%. In all three crops, with irrigation, mulching, and bio-pesticides gave better production than without. Crops without pruning gave better production, and the higher the pruning rate, the less became the production. In all three crops, mulching gave the highest production result, although all plots had higher production than Chitwan District’s average, except for pruning which was significantly lower than all other plots in case of all three crops.