Department of Soil Science, CCS Hayrna Agril. University, Hisar ,India Received : Accepted :

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1 Indian J. Agric. Res.., 46 (2) : , 2012 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE ccjournals.com / indianjournals.com nals.com LONG - TERM EFFECT OF ORGANIC MATERIALS AND FERTILIZERS ON SOIL PROPERTIES IN PEARL MILLET-WHEA WHEAT CROPPING SYSTEM Sunil Kumar,, Rita Dahiya, Pawan Kumar,, B.S. Jhorar and V.K..K. Phogat Department of Soil Science, CCS Hayrna Agril. University, Hisar ,India Received : Accepted : ABSTRACT An investigation was undertaken to study the effect of long- term application of inorganic fertilizers and organic materials (farmyard manure, wheat straw and green manure) on soil physico-chemical properties, soil organic carbon, nutrient availability and crop yield after 22 cycles of pearl millet and wheat at Research Far arm of CCS HAU, Hisar.. The experiment consisted of five treatments including control, inorganic fertilizers alone, and fertilizers along with organic materials to substitute 50% N through farmyard manure (FYM), wheat straw and green manure ( (Sesbania aculeata). Continuous use of FYM, wheat straw and green manure in conjunction with fertilizers increased the soil organic carbon (OC), hydraulic conductivity,, available N, P, P, K status and wheat yield, and decreased eased soil bulk density,, soluble salts and ph. Among organic materials, FYM resulted in highest OC (0.54%), available N (242.8 kg/ha), available P (17.7 kg/ha) and available K (318.5 kg/ha) level in soil. In general, the application of organic materials reduced the soil bulk density by 3.3% as compared to the fertilizers alone. Among different treatments, the grain and straw yield of wheat was highest where FYM (50% of N) was applied with fertilizers than the application of wheat straw,, green manure e or inorganic fertilizers alone. The results suggest that integrated use of inorganic fertilizer in combination with organic materials facilitates soil physical and chemical environment congenial for achieving higher crop productivity under pearl millet-wheat cropping system. Key words: Inorganic fertilizer, Green manure, Organic materials, Soil properties. INTRODUCTION Many intensive cereal based cropping systems are under practice in the country according to agro-climatic regimes. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the important cropping systems of the Haryana state. Haryana contributes 13.3% towards national production of wheat from the 9% of wheat growing area of the country. The Pearl millet is also most widely cultivated cereal after rice and wheat. It is grown in an estimated area of thousand ha in Haryana (Yadav and Subba Rao, 2002). In addition to tolerating hot and dry climates, pearl millet is able to produce reasonable yields on marginal soils of arid and semi-arid areas of the state, where other crops would fail. But presently, the trend of production of pearl millet wheat cropping system in the state is constant or marginal decline in production due to continuous cropping of this highly nutrient exhaustive cropping system for the last three decades. Furthermore, intensive cropping, cultivation of high yielding varieties, crop residue burning and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers have resulted into depletion of nutrients, soil organic carbon and deterioration of soil physical conditions. Long term studies indicated that supplying of plant nutrients only through chemical fertilizers depleted soil organic matter and declined the soil productivity (Srivastava, 1998; Singh et al., 1999). Therefore, there is a need to manage the long- term soil productivity through integrated use of both inorganic and organic sources of nutrients. The organic sources of nutrients including farmyard manure, green manure, crop residue, etc. have potential for increasing soil organic matter. The soil organic matter plays an important role in improvement of soil physical, chemical and biological properties and ultimately increasing soil productivity and crop yields (Antil et al., 2011, Bhagat et al., 2003; Marinari et al., 2000). Long-term

2 162 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH experiments have shown that crop residues crops were raised as per the recommended practices. incorporation, farmyard manures and green manures Total area of each plot was harvested manually to increased soil organic carbon and nutrient record the grain and straw yield. availability as compared to the chemical fertilizers Composite soil samples of 0-15 and (Babhulkar et al., 2000; Lado et al., 2004). Green cm depths were collected from each plot for soil manure and crop residue incorporation also analyses after harvest of wheat. Soil ph and improved soil structure, reduced bulk density, and electrical conductivity were determined by ph meter increased porosity and infiltration rate of soil and electrical conductivity meter, respectively. Soil (Chapale and Bodole, 1999). Application of green organic carbon content was estimated using Walkley manure is also important for solving the nonavailability problem of crop residue (especially wheat and Black s titration method (Walkley and Black, straw) being used as fodder. Therefore, the present 1934). Available N by Kjeldahl digestion distillation study was carried out to investigate the long-term method (Subbiah and Asija, 1956), available P by effect of different organic materials including Olsen-P method (Olsen et al., 1954) and available K farmyard manure, wheat straw and green manure content by ammonium acetate method (Piper, 1966) along with inorganic fertilizers on soil physicochemical properties under pearl millet wheat determined using International pipette method (Day, were determined. The particle size distribution was cropping system in a sandy loam soil. 1965). MATERIALS AND METHODS The undisturbed soil samples were collected An ongoing long- term experiment, on using one edge-sharpened galvanized iron (metallic) application of different organic materials (FYM, cores (internal diameter = 5.0 cm and height= 5.0 wheat straw and green manure) and inorganic cm) after the harvest of wheat from all the treatments fertilizers on crop production in pearl millet wheat representing 0 10, and cm soil layers cropping system which is in progress for last 22 years for determination of soil bulk density and saturated at research farm of CCS Haryana Agricultural hydraulic conductivity. The saturated hydraulic University, Hisar, was selected for the study during conductivity was determined using the constant the year The climate of the region is head method (Klute and Dirksen, 1986). semi-arid with mean annual rainfall of mm, The experiment was laid out in a randomized 80% of which is concentrated from July to block design (RBD) with four replications. The September. The experimental soil is sandy loam experimental data were statistically analyzed using (54% sand, 22% silt and 24% clay) and classified analysis of variance of randomized block design and as Typic Haplustepts according to the Soil Survey F-test. Staff, The experiment consisted of five RESULTS AND DISCUSSION treatments (Table 1) having observation plot size Soil ph and electrical conductivity 10m 8m in pearl millet and wheat crops. The application of FYM, wheat straw and green manure along with inorganic fertilizers had decreased the soil ph and soluble salt concentration as compared to the fertilizers alone (Table 2). The decrease in soil ph may be attributed to production of organic acids during decomposition of organic materials. Antil et al. (2011) also reported decrease in soil ph with the long-term application of farmyard manure under pearl millet- wheat cropping system. In treatment T3, the FYM (66 kg/plot) and in T4, the wheat straw cut into small pieces (147 kg/ plot) were incorporated into the soil to supply 50% of the recommended N. The dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata) as green crop was grown in different field and after about 45 days, cut and chopped into small pieces and incorporated (20 kg/plot) into the soil in T5. The amount of organic materials applied is expressed on dry weight basis. All the organic materials were applied about days before the sowing of pearl millet. The organic materials were applied only in pearl millet throughout the long-term experimentation (Table 1). The N and P were applied through urea and diammonium phosphate. The Available nutrients The available N, P and K of 0-15 cm soil layer were observed higher after application of 22 cycles of organic materials along with fertilizers as compared to fertilizer alone (Table 2). The longterm integrated nutrient management through FYM

3 Vol. 46, No. 2, Table 1: Description of the experimental treatments Treatment Pearl millet Wheat T1 (control) No organic material and no inorganic fertilizer No organic material and no inorganic fertilizer T2 T3 T4 T5 100% recommended dose (RD) of NPK through fertilizers 50% of RD of N through FYM and 50% through NPK fertilizers 50% of RD of N through wheat straw and 50% through NPK fertilizers 50% of RD of N through green manure (Sesbania aculeata) and 50% through NPK fertilizers Table 2: Soil electrical conductivity (EC), ph and available N, P, K of 0-15 cm soil layer as affected by the long-term application of fertilizers and organic materials Treatment EC(dS/m) ph Available N (kg/ha) Available P(kg/ha) Available K(kg/ha) T T T T T CD (P=0.05) NS NS Table 3: Soil bulk density (Mg m -3 ) and organic carbon (%) as affected by the long- term application of fertilizers and organic materials Treatment Bulk density (Mg m -3 ) Soil organic carbon (%) T T T T T CD (P=0.05) in T3 treatment had resulted in highest available N (242.8 kg/ha), available P (17.7 kg/ha) and available K (318.5 kg/ha). Walia et al., (2010) also reported that long-term integrated nutrient management in rice - wheat cropping system increased the availability of N P K nutrients. Soil bulk density The soil bulk density (0 30 cm) measured at the harvest of wheat crop indicated that long-term application of organic materials along with fertilizers decreased the soil bulk density significantly by 3.3 % in comparison to application of fertilizers alone (Table 3). The decrease in bulk density might be due to increase in soil organic carbon (soil particles binding agents) responsible for soil aggregation. Singh et al. (2007) had also reported the decrease in soil bulk density with long- term application of green manure, FYM and wheat straw under ricewheat cropping system. Application of fertilizers alone (T2) also decreased the soil bulk density significantly by 1.8% as compared to control. This is also due to increased soil organic carbon with application of fertilizers. But, the decrease in bulk density was observed more pronounced in upper

4 164 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH Fig. 1: Influence of long- term application of fertilizers and organic materials on soil saturated hydraulic conductivity. Fig. 2: Influence of long- term application of fertilizers and organic materials on yield of grain and straw of wheat.

5 soil layers (0 10 and cm) than in the lower layer (20 30 cm) because incorporation of organic materials was mainly up to upper layers. Soil organic carbon The long-term application of organic materials along with fertilizers significantly increased the soil organic carbon (SOC) as compared to the application of fertilizers alone (Table 3). Further, SOC content in 0 30 cm soil layer was highest (0.54%) in FYM treatment (T3) and lowest (0.37%) in control treatment. The application of FYM had increased the SOC by 47.9 % and 17.4% as compared to control and fertilizer (T2) treatments, respectively. However, fertilizers alone had also increased the SOC by 26% as compared to the control. The increase in SOC with application of inorganic fertilization is attributed to higher above ground and root biomass than in control plots. Further, higher level of SOC with the long- term application of manures along with the fertilizers may be due to additional C inputs resulting from return of crop residues into soils. Similar results were reported by Antil et al. (2011) in pearl millet- wheat cropping system with long-term application of FYM. Similar to bulk density, effect of manures on SOC lessened with soil depths. Saturated hydraulic conductivity Long- term application of organic materials along with fertilizers had significantly increased the saturated hydraulic conductivity of 0-10, and cm soil depths (Figure 1). The saturated hydraulic conductivity was observed highest in FYM treatment (T3) amongst all the treatments up to 30 cm soil depth. Higher values of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity indicate that long- term application of organic materials along with fertilizers had improved the soil structure due to increased organic carbon content and decreased soil bulk density. The influence of organic materials on hydraulic conductivity also diminished with soil Vol. 46, No. 2, depths as on SOC and bulk density. It was observed that fertilizers alone had also increased the hydraulic conductivity as compared to control. Again, this might be due to higher root biomass accumulated over the years in fertilized plots. Sharma et al. (2002) also reported that saturated hydraulic conductivity was higher with long-term application of fertilizers as compared to the control. Crop yield The grain and straw yield of wheat also increased with the long-term application of organic materials along with inorganic fertilizers (Figure 2) as compared to control. The application of FYM (T3) resulted into highest grain (5215kg/ha) and straw yield (6275 kg/ha) of wheat. This indicates the potential use of farmyard manure for sustaining the soil productivity. Similar effect of long-term application of FYM on yield of wheat in pearl milletwheat cropping system was reported by Antil et al. (2011). Although, the yields were recorded lower in treatments having wheat straw and green manure as compared to the fertilizers only, but they might be used promising alternatives for sustainable soil productivity. CONCLUSIONS The study showed that long- term application of organic materials (FYM, wheat straw and green manure) along with fertilizers increased the soil organic carbon, saturated hydraulic conductivity, available N P K, grain and straw yield of wheat, and decreased the soil bulk density, soluble salt concentration and ph. Hence, long- term integrated nutrient management by applying organic manures and inorganic fertilizers has potential for improving the soil physical and chemical fertility status for increasing the crop yield for sustainable agriculture. Further, the impact of long-term fertility management on soil biological and biochemical parameters, and their importance to nutrient cycling and crop yields would be addressed as future studies. REFERENCES Antil, R.S., Narwal, R.P., Singh, B. and Singh, J.P. (2011) Long-term effects of FYM and N on soil helath and crop productivity undr pearl millet- wheat cropping system. Ind. J. Fert. 7: Babhulkar, P. S., Wandle, R. M., Badole, W. P. and Balpande, S. S. (2000) Residual effect of long term application of FYM and fertilizers on soil properties and yield of soyabean. J. Ind. Soc. Soil Sci. 48: Bhagat, R. M., Bhardwaj, A.K. and Sharma, P.K. (2003) Long term effect of residue management on soil physical properties, water use and yield of rice in North Western India. J. Ind. Soc. Soil Sci. 51:

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