Achieving an economically feasible and environmentally robust model in agriculture while satisfying the expanding population’s food demands is a global challenge. Hence, a three-year (2014–2017) study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to design environmentally clean, energy-efficient, and profitable cropping systems. Twelve cropping systems viz., rice-wheat (CS₁), basmati rice-hayola (transplanted)-mung bean (CS₂), basmati rice-radish-maize (CS₃), maize-potato-maize (CS₄), maize + turmeric-barley + linseed (CS₅), maize + turmeric-wheat + linseed (CS₆), maize + radish-wheat + linseed-mung bean (CS₇), groundnut + pigeon pea (5:1)-wheat + sarson (9:1) (CS₈), maize + black gram-pea (bed) + celery (furrows) (CS₉),_: maize + pigeon pea-chickpea (bed) + gobhi sarson (furrows) (CS₁₀), maize (green cobs) + vegetable cowpea + dhaincha (Sesbania spp.)-chickpea + gobhi sarson (CS₁₁) and sorghum + cowpea (fodder)-wheat + gobhi sarson (9:1) (CS₁₂) were tested in a four-times-replicated randomized block design. CS₁₁ had the maximum system productivity (28.57 Mg ha⁻¹), production efficiency (78.27 Kg Day⁻¹ ha⁻¹), irrigation water use efficiency (2.38 kg m⁻³), system net returns (4413.3 US$ ha⁻¹), and benefit to cost (B:C) ratio (2.83) over others. In comparison to the CS₁ system, this cropping system required ~78% less irrigation water for a unit economic production. However, the cultivation of CS₁₂ registered the highest energy use efficiency (49.06%), net energy returns (6.46 × 10³ MJ ha⁻¹), and global warming potential (GWP) (Mg CO₂ e ha⁻¹) at spatial scale. Among all the intensified systems, CS₁₁ had the lowest GHGI (0.29 kg CO₂ e kg⁻¹). Furthermore, cultivation of CS₆ resulted in the maximum bacterial and actinomycetes population in the soil, while CS₅ yielded the highest fungal count (23.8 × 10³ cfu g⁻¹ dry soil) in soil. Our study suggests that the cultivation of CS₁₁ is a resource-efficient, economically viable, and environmentally clean production system and could be a potential alternative to rice-wheat systems for developing a green economy policy for agricultural development in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India.

A field experiment was conducted at vegetable research farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) during 2019–21 to evaluate the performance of 8 improved genotypes of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) and compare them with the popular check genotype in terms of yield attributes and yield, quality and biochemical traits. Among the okra genotype, DOV-44≥Punjab Padmani≥Kashi Kranti produced significantly (P<0.05) higher pod weight as compared to the remaining cultivars and recorded an improvement of 10.7–16.4% for pod weight over the local check (Parbhani Kranti). DOV-44 ≥Punjab Padmani ≥Kashi Kranti produced 110.7–120.1% higher okra pod yield over the check (Parbhani Kranti) averaged over the years. Significant positive correlation of yield attributes like days to 50% flowering (r= 0.5294*, P<0.05) leaf length (r= 0.8217**, P<0.001), pod length (r= 0.6863*, P<0.05), pod diameter (r= 0.7866*, P<0.05) and pod weight (r= 0.8417**, P<0.001) with okra pod yield also affirmed it better performance as compared to local check. Among the cultivars, chlorophyll A among the cultivars also varied significantly (P<0.05) from 7.26 in DOV-88 to 5.13 in Pusa Bhindi-5. Calcium content was observed highest in Kashi Kranti (93.67) ≥ DOV-88 (92.00) and it was 21.5–23.8% higher than local check (Parbhani Kranti). The genetic make-up responsible for higher growth, better physiological and biochemical attributes may help in improving adaptive capacity for achieving optimal productivity. Thus, exploring improved genotypes suitable to J&K ecosystem promises improvement of okra productivity along with maintaining better biochemical traits in the J&K of India and other similar agro-ecological regions.