Europ. J. Agronomy 79 (2016) 1–13 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect European Journal of Agronomy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eja Comprehensive assessment of nutrient management technologies for cauliflower production under subtropical conditions Kaushik Batabyal a,∗ , Biswapati Mandal a , Dibyendu Sarkar a , Sidhu Murmu a , Amrit Tamang b , Ipsita Das c , Gora Chand Hazra a , Partha Sarathi Chattopadhyay a a Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, West Bengal, 741 252, India b Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, 736 165, India c Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, 751 003, Odisha, India a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 13 November 2015 Received in revised form 9 April 2016 Accepted 19 April 2016 Keywords: Cauliflower Nutrient management technology Energy gain Economic return Soil quality Crop quality a b s t r a c t We developed a methodological protocol for comprehensive evaluation of nutrient management (NM) technologies for production of cauliflower taking its yield, quality, profitability, energy balance and environmental sustainability in terms of soil quality as the goal variables. Fifteen NM technologies com- prising three sources of nutrients viz., organics [farmyard manure (FYM), vermicompost (VC) and green manure], inorganic fertilizations (recommended NPK at the rate of 200-44-82 kg ha −1 and 125% of recom- mended NPK) and their selected combinations were tested for producing cauliflower for six consecutive growing seasons during 2006–2011. Integrated NM technology proved to be economically sound and environment-friendly practice. It helped to produce better quality cauliflower with higher value added products such as crude protein, dietary fibre, and vitamin C. Further, it concomitantly maintained better soil quality by improving soil organic carbon stock, microbial biomass carbon, bulk density and extractable plant available nutrients. Combining all the parameters together by employing non-parametric eval- uation of regression factor scores through principal component analysis, the NM technology of FYM 5 Mg ha −1 + 125% of recommended NPK and VC 3 Mg ha −1 + 125% of recommended NPK were found to be the best among the NM technologies compared. The superiority of the technologies were attributed to higher curd biomass yield (8.36 and 9.70 Mg ha −1 , respectively), higher economic return (benefit-cost ratio 2.7 and 2.5; marginal rate of return 8.0 and 5.1, respectively), more energy conserving efficiency (net energy 22.4 and 25.7 GJ ha −1 ; output-input energy ratio 1.86 and 2.00, respectively) and greater improvement in the indices of soil quality (6.219 and 5.709, respectively) and crop quality for human (6.7 and 7.4, respectively) and animal (7.4 and 6.4, respectively) nutrition. Organics were less produc- tive, less profitable, and energetically less efficientas compared to integrated and inorganic systems for cauliflower production in subtropics. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) is an important and popular vegetable crop widely grown almost throughout the world. The curd of the crop, which constitutes about one fourth of the total aboveground biomass, is a favorite for human consump- tion; while the rest comprising of stem and leaves (together known as stalk) are good food for cattle. The vegetable when consumed confers health benefits to human as well as animals because of its richness in minerals, phytochemicals, dietary fibre, and vita- mins specially vitamin C (van Duyn and Pivonka, 2000; Stojceska ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: kbatabyal@rediffmail.com (K. Batabyal). et al., 2008; Picchi et al., 2012). These, particularly the latter two are known to provide protection against certain types of cancer, help in lowering blood cholesterol, and serving as strong anti-oxidants (Knasmüller et al., 2009; Saura-calixto, 2011). For successful cultivation of the crop, it is important to supply adequate amounts of essential nutrients in a balanced proportion to the soil in appropriate manner and time (Alt et al., 2000; Kageet al., 2003; Batabyal, 2011). This is generally done by using inor- ganic, organic, and biological sources of the nutrients and their combinations. There are fundamental differences between organic and conventional production practices (Worthington, 2001; Lester and Saftner, 2011), but limited information is available detailing how various nutrient management (NM) practices including organ- ics influence the nutritional quality of crop, especially in terms of health-related benefits, quality of growth medium (soil), energy use http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2016.04.009 1161-0301/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.