Broad bed and furrow land configuration for crop diversification and enhancing productivity and economics in the Gangetic flood plain of West Bengal

A field experiment was conducted at All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Integrated Farming Systems, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Gayeshpur, Nadia, West Bengal to assess the influence of broad bed and furrow (BBF) land configuration along with crop diversification on productivity, profitability and resource efficiency including energy value in low land traditional rice-rice system with 5 BBF treatments viz.T1: elephant foot yam-brinjal (BB):khari frice+fish- summer rice (F), T2: ridgegourd-potato-pumpkin (BB):kharif rice+fish- summer rice (F), T3: okra-bottlegourd-basella (BB):kharif rice+fish- summer rice (F), T4: elephant foot yam– marigold (BB):kharif rice+fish- summer rice (F), T5: maize- brinjal-greengram(BB):kharif rice+fish- summer rice (F) and one farmers’ practice treatment T6: kharif rice-summer rice during 2018-19 to 2021-22 for 4 consecutive years. The highest rice-equivalent yield was recorded in T4 (95.62 t/ha) system followed by T3 (93.93 t/ha), T1 (91.92 t/ha) and the lowest in rice-rice (15.76 t/ha). Highest productivity (262 kg/ha/day) also recorded in T4, but the highest net return (₹4,68,377/-), profitability (₹1,283/ha/day) and B:C ratio (3.75) recorded in T3. T4 system showed better land-utilization efficiency (85.21%) and all the BBF treatments recorded higher LUE than rice-rice. T3 system also showed higher irrigation water-use efficiency (2,125 kg/ha-cm), employment generation (475 man-days), net energy production (600.81 X 103 MJ/ha), energy productivity (2.25 kg/MJ) and energy use efficiency (15.45) than the other systems. Growing of okra-bottlegourd-basella or elephant foot yam– marigold crop sequence in broad bed along with khari frice+fish- summer rice in furrow proved better.