Due to the increasing global population, advancement in farming techniques to meet the global food demand is the need of the hour. Conventional farming techniques have increased the yield over the past few decades, but those techniques also have adverse effects on natural resources. In this scenario, many other alternatives have emerged as a solution, natural farming being one among them. The presented article delivers crucial information regarding the targeted farming technique i.e., natural farming. Multiple scientifically-proven natural techniques and ecological approaches are discussed for different aspects of farming. In addition, criticisms related to Natural Farming are illustrated along with a basic introduction to zero budget natural farming (ZBNF). Furthermore, the article describes multiple proven technologies for weed, pest and disease management approaches through natural practices. Lastly, the article gives recommendations on implementing and introducing natural farming to the farming community.

Chenopodium album L. and Chenopodium murale L. are two principal weed species, causing substantial damage to numerous winter crops across the globe. For sustainable and resource-efficient management strategies, it is important to understand weeds’ germination behaviour under diverse conditions. For the germination investigations, seeds of both species were incubated for 15 days under different temperatures (10–30 °C), salinity (0–260 mM NaCl), osmotic stress (0–1 MPa), pH (4–10), and heating magnitudes (50–200 °C). The results indicate that the germination rates of C. album and C. murale were 54–95% and 63–97%, respectively, under a temperature range of 10 to 30 °C. The salinity levels for a 50% reduction in the maximum germination (GR₅₀) for C. album and C. murale were 139.9 and 146.3 mM NaCl, respectively. Regarding osmotic stress levels, the GR₅₀ values for C. album and C. murale were 0.44 and 0.43 MPa, respectively. The two species showed >95% germination with exposure to an initial temperature of 75 °C for 5 min; however, seeds exposed to 100 °C and higher temperatures did not show any germination. Furthermore, a drastic reduction in germination was observed when the pH was less than 6.0 and greater than 8.0. The study generated information on the germination biology of two major weed species under diverse ecological scenarios, which may be useful in developing efficient weed management tactics for similar species in future agri-food systems.

Little mallow (Malva parviflora L.) is a notorious weed that causes substantial yield losses in winter crops. For effective weed management and seed testing, a deeper understanding of seed dormancy, germination behavior, and dormancy-breaking methods is necessary. Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of seed treatments, i.e., mechanical scarification, acid scarification, hot water treatment, and different germinating temperatures, i.e., 15 °C, 20 °C, or alternating 15–20 °C (16/8 h), on the seed dormancy in M.parviflora. A large proportion of M. parviflora seeds were physically dormant, with just 10.90% germination. Seed treatments had a significant influence on seed germination, seedling dry weight, vigor index, and water absorption (p ≤ 0.01). Among the various treatments, mechanical scarification enhanced germination by 32%, the vigor index by 487% and water uptake by 34%, and decreased percent hard seeds by 34%. Among the various germination temperatures, alternating 15–20 °C temperatures (16/8 h) gave the most significant result for germination and the lowest percent hard seeds. The findings of this study will serve as a valuable reference for seed testing and the development of suitable weed control strategies for M. parviflora.

The field experiment was carried out at Forage Block, Instructional Dairy Farm, Nagla, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) in spring 2019 to, study the effect of mulches and irrigation schedules on productivity and water use efficiency of spring sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in Mollisols of Uttarakhand (India). The experiment consisted of 03 levels of mulches i.e., control (no mulch), straw mulch @ 6t/ha and polythene mulch (black) in the main plot and 04 levels of irrigation schedules i.e., critical stages (button, flowering, and seed filling stage), 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 IW/CPE ratios in subplots, was laid out in split-plot design with three replications. Under the application of polythene mulch, significant seed output was observed that was statistically comparable to straw mulch. Under polythene mulch, seed yield was found to be 4.6% and 18.5% greater than under straw mulch and control, respectively. The polythene mulch produced significantly higher stover yield that was non-significant with straw mulch Polythene mulch produced 8.10% and 10.4 % higher stover than straw mulch and control, respectively. Sunflower seed yield differed significantly among irrigation schedules. Irrigation applied at 1.2 IW/CPE produced significantly the highest seed yield that was 5.4, 11.1, and 14.8% greater than irrigation scheduled at 1.0, 0.8 IW/CPE, and critical stages, respectively. Among the irrigation schedules, stover yield was recorded 5.8, 8.0, and 10.8% higher under the 1.2 IW/CPE ratio than 1.0, 0.8 IW/CPE ratio, and critical stages, respectively. Overall, it is highlighted that polythene mulch gives significantly higher productivity and quality parameters. 1.2 IW/CPE ratios give significantly the highest seed yield, higher protein content and oil content.