Intensified seed spices-based cropping systems for higher productivity, resource-use efficiency, soil fertility and profitability in arid and semi-arid regions of India

Coriander, fenugreek, nigella etc. are collectively known as seed spices. They are “High value and low volume crops” and considered cash crops for the growers of arid and semi-arid regions of India. Coriander, fenugreek and nigella are grown during the rabi season and take hardly 130–140 days to attain full maturity. In this context, farmers are not able to develop income from available arable land round the year, even though they have sufficient resources as well as manpower. Therefore, coriander, fenugreek and nigella-based cropping systems, four of each (total 12) were evaluated during 3 consecutive years (2019–20 to 2021–22) for their productivity, resource-use efficiency, economics and soil fertility. The results showed that among the seed spices-based cropping systems, maximum system productivity (5193 kg ha(-1)), production efficiency (18.81 kg ha(-1) day(-1)), water-use efficiency (2.31 kg ha(-1) mm(-1)), economic efficiency (11.85 US $ ha(-1) day(-1)), net return (3270 US $ ha(-1)), benefit:cost ratio (3.27) and available N (165.6 kg ha(-1)) were observed under nigella-green coriander-mungbean cropping system. Hence, seed spices growers are recommended to adopt nigella-green coriander-mungbean cropping system in order to realize better productivity, resource-use efficiency, soil fertility and profitability.