COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF INTEGRATED FERTILIZATION APPROACHES ON SOIL HEALTH AND CROP PRODUCTIVITY OF WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) UNDER DIFFERENT TILLAGE SYSTEMS

Abstract

The study was conducted at Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan to monitor the impact assessment of tillage systems on soil health indicators by integrating organic and inorganic resources to sustain wheat production in arid and semi-arid conditions i.e. high temperature and low rainfall. The field experiment was conducted in 2019-20 and carried out in alkaline soil (pH 8.2) with low organic matter (0.45%) to grow wheat after rice and treatments were arranged in randomized complete block design. Farmyard manure (FYM 20.5 Mg/ha), rice crop residues application (CRA 100%) and chemical fertilizers (CF) N-P-K 100-80-60 kg/ha, respectively were used under conventional and conservation tillage systems. During this research different growth and yield parameters were noted and evaluated the level of N, P, K and organic matter contents from soil and plant at the harvest. The results indicated that the combined application of FYM and CRA with CF improved the chlorophyll contents (20% in conventional tillage and 39% in conservation tillage) which helped in nutrient translocation (N, P, K) and increased growth, biological and grain yield by improving soil organic carbon (SOC) and organic matter contents in soil. Growth parameter i.e. germination percentage upto 64%, plant height 27% and spike length upto 35% were increased by T7 . The conservation tillage method was the best where we used T7 i.e. CF + 25% FYM + 50% CRA, and CF + 50% FYM + 25% CRA by conserving moisture and built OM (0.90%), soil organic carbon (0.49%) and mineral nutrition in soil as well as in wheat leaves. It is concluded that the integrated use of organic and inorganic resources are helpful for sustainable wheat production by enhancing fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) to improve soil health especially in arid to semi-arid climate conditions in alkaline soil.