Effect of integrated nutrient management on soil physical and hydraulic properties in rice-wheat crop sequence in N-W Himalayas Choudhary Anil K.*, Thakur R.C.**, Kumar Naveen Department of Agronomy, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, (HP) -176062, India. *ISMS, KVK, Sundernagar, (HP).
**CSK, HPKV, Palampur, (HP).
Abstract A field experiment was conducted at CSK HPKV, Palampur (HP) for two years in a silty clay loam soil from rabi 1999–2000 to kharif2001 under irrigated conditions in a randomized block design replicated thrice with five sources of organic manures and three fertilizer levels (50, 100 and 150% of recommended NPK) in wheat along with one absolute control while rice was grown with 100 per cent of recommended NPK fertilizers except absolute control to study the residual effect of integrated nutrient management of preceding wheat crop on soil physical and hydraulic properties and yield of succeeding rice. Various organic manures and increasing levels of fertilizer application significantly improved the yield of wheat and rice. Application of various organic manures in wheat resulted in reduction of bulk density of the soil over initial value. In general, bulk density was quite lower in FYM supplied plots and higher in berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) green manured plots. There was a significant improvement in soil physical properties like soil moisture content after harvest of each crop, soil water retention and plant available water capacity (PAWC), saturated hydraulic conductivity at various crop growth stages when FYM was applied @ 10 t ha−1 to wheat followed by berseem green manuring + FYM, mushroom spent compost + FYM, mushroom spent compost and berseem green manuring, respectively. Increase in fertility levels from 50 to 150% of recommended NPK supplied to wheat crop resulted in decline in bulk density of the soil in each crop, A significant improvement in soil moisture content at harvest of both wheat and rice; soil water retention at different suction values as well as PAWC during experimentation was observed with increase in fertilizer levels. In the present study, integrated use of FYM @ 10 t −1 alone or in combination with other locally available organics alongwith 150% of recommended NPK in wheat and 100% of recommended NPK in rice improved the productivity, soil physical properties as well as soil hydraulic properties in wheat-rice crop sequence in N-W Himalayas. Top Key words Chemical fertilizers, Organic manures, Rice-Wheat, Soil physical and hydraulic properties. Top |