Theory
Unit I: Fundamentals of organic farm management and conversion
Salient features of organic farm management, strategies for conversion to organic, step-by-step planning, integration of contamination control measures, planning for on-farm input production and supplementary off-farm inputs, planning for rain water harvesting and water conservation approaches including efficient irrigation systems and moisture preservation techniques, visit to organic farms and study on farmer’s best practices for conversion.
Unit II: Management of diversity and cropping systems
Importance of diversity, installation of diversity through plantation of utility trees, nitrogen fixing tree hedges, habitat management for friendly insects and birds and nitrogen fixing crops as intercrops. Importance of cropping systems management with long term planning, crop rotations, intercropping, multi cropping, relay cropping, multi-layered cropping.
Unit III: Nutrient management
Components of nutrient management in organic crop production, assessment of crop nutrient requirements, calculation of nutrient credits from on-farm practices and resources such as intercrops, cover crops, biomass mulching, calculating additional input requirements. Managing nutrient needs through use of organic manures, viz. FYM, compost, Vermicompost, oil cakes, in-situ and ex-situ green manuring, crop residue management, use of restricted organic nutrient sources, liquid organic manures and dung urine slurries, methods of manuring and biomass application, split application of manures, foliar feeding as replacement of top dressing, ITKs and farmers innovations in nutrient management
Unit IV: Integration of microbial and mineral inputs
Importance of bio fertilizers, types of biofertilizers, nutrient potential, methods of application, enriching manures/ composts with biofertilizers, identifying the need for use of supplementary mineral sources and their integration in nutrient management package.
Unit V: Weed management
Prevention of weeds through cropping systems management, crop geometry, stale seedbed technique, summer ploughing, soil solarisation, cover crops, mulching, flooding, biological weed management, selection of suitable physical and mechanical approaches and biological and plastic mulches.
Unit VI: Water and Irrigation Management
Soil-water relation, theories of water availability, water use efficiency management, methods of irrigation and automation in irrigation systems, irrigation scheduling in different crops.
Unit VII: Modeling of agronomic practices and nutrient management protocols for some important agricultural and horticultural crops
Identification of compatible associate and intercrops/ companion crops, placing trap crops and insectary plants in cropping geometry, making provisions for nutrient credits from biomass mulching, intercrops and green manures, making provisions for nutrient credits from microbial enrichment with microbial/ liquid manure inputs, balance nutrient requirement modeling and identification of inputs and planning for quantity and time of application.
Unit VIII: Crop growth and yield analysis
Crop growth expressions in plants, growth measurements, important growth indices and forms of growth analysis in field crops. Factors determining yield. Use of growth analysis technique to study variation in yield due to planting season, planting density, fertilizer treatment, other agronomic practices, light, temperature, water, growth substances, varietal differences. Crop response curves. Dynamics of crop growth and modeling.
Unit IX: Success stories of effective crop management with optimum yields of practicing organic farmers (one in irrigated systems and one in rainfed systems)
Field visit, documentation of farming system with inputs and outputs, identification of practices important for organic systems, nutrient management practices, pest management protocols, yields and economics. Salient features for success and for further replication in crop production modeling.