Comparative soil health dynamics and crop morphological responses in natural and conventional agroecosystems

Nutrient management and cropping system strategies are so different between natural and conventional agroecosystems that soil health generally follows very different trajectories, thereby affecting crop growth, functioning, and system sustainability. To examine these effects, a field experiment was conducted during the rainy season in the humid subtropical region of the north-western Himalayas, India, to evaluate seasonal soil physicochemical changes under natural farming inputs, conventional chemical fertilizer applications, and okra-cowpea intercropping, and to establish their relationships with crop growth and yield Soil samples were collected from the experimental field before sowing to establish baseline soil conditions. Write all measurements you did and what analyses you performed Two-way ANOVA indicated that soil pH was affected by treatment (p = 0.00011 < 0.05) and season (p = 2.05 × 10⁻²⁹<0.05) with a significant interaction of treatment x season (p = 0.0329 < 0.05). Soil EC was strongly affected by season (p=5.19× 10⁻⁶⁵<0.05), whereas treatment (p=0.502) and interaction effects (p = 0.204>0.05) were not significant. Organic matter content was significantly influenced by treatment (p= 1.37 × 10⁻⁵<0.05) and season (p = 3.34 × 10⁻¹⁵<0.05), while the interaction effect was marginally non-significant (p= 0.060>0.05). Dry density exhibited a strong seasonal effect (p=4.00 × 10⁻²⁶), with no significant treatment influence (p=0.298). Treatments with higher post-harvest organic matter (up to 3.12%) and reduced dry density as low as 1.31g cm⁻³ recorded greater plant growth, higher leaf area index (up to 1.58), and increased stem diameter. One-way ANOVA revealed that stem diameter (p=0.0306) and okra yield (p=1.50×10⁻⁵<0.05) were significantly affected by treatments, whereas plant height (p=0.176>0.05) and total biomass(p=0.396>0.05) were not. The correlation analysis using Pearson's correlation was strongly negative between post-harvest soil pH and Okra yield (r = -0.61), while organic matter was moderate in correlation (r = -0.31). Principal component analysis explained a cumulative percentage of 66.9% in total variance, in which soil pH, organic matter, and dry density were strongly associated in PC1. Soil Quality, derived from PCA, varied between 0.10 and 0.51, which was higher in natural farming practices and intercropping. Land equivalent ratio in intercropping was significantly improved in all cases, ranging between 1.24 and 1.73, which proved that it was significantly better compared to mono cropping in both natural farming practices and conventional inorganic nutrient management. The results demonstrate that natural nutrient management combined with intercropping offers a viable, low-input strategy for farmers to improve soil quality, reduce dependency on external fertilizers, and thereby strengthen farm-level economic and ecological resilience.