Abstract
Field investigations were conducted to assess the effect of conservation agricultural practices on soil biological properties and yield of cotton during the kharif season of 2018 and 2019. The experiments were laid out in a split plot design with four main factors viz., conventional tillage with irrigation schedule of 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (M1), conventional tillage with irrigation schedule of 0.6 IW/CPE ratio (M2), minimum tillage with irrigation schedule of 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (M3) and minimum tillage with irrigation schedule of 0.6 IW/CPE ratio (M4). Sub plot had six treatments of weed and nutrient management viz., crop residue mulch with 100% RDF (S1), crop residue mulch with 75% RDF (S2), pre-emergence application of pendimethalin fb one hand weeding with 100% RDF (S3), pre-emergence application of pendimethalin fb one hand weeding with 75% RDF (S4), mechanical weeding twice with 100% RDF (S5) and mechanical weeding twice with 75% RDF (S6). Total microbial populations viz., bacteria, fungal, and actinobacteria were higher in cotton rhizosphere soil with the minimum tillage of irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (M3) in the main plot treatments. Cotton rhizosphere soil with crop residue mulch with 100% RDF (S1) recorded a higher microbial population and it was statistically similar with pre-emergence application of pendimethalin fb one hand weeding with 100% RDF (S3) in the sub plot treatments. Among the treatment combination, minimum tillage with irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (M3) and crop residue mulch with 100% RDF (S1) recorded a higher microbial population. Similarly, a higher seed yield of cotton was also recorded with minimum tillage and irrigating the crop at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio and pre-emergence application of pendimethalin fb one hand weeding along with application of 100% RDF (M3S3)
Highlights
Conservation agriculture is a concept evolved to respond to the concerns of sustainability of agriculture (FAO, 2012)
The main plot consisted of four treatments, conventional tillage with irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (M1), conventional tillage with irrigation at 0.6 IW/CPE ratio (M2), minimum tillage with irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (M3), minimum tillage with irrigation at 0.6 IW/CPE ratio (M4) and sub plot consisted of six treatments viz., crop residue mulch with 100% RDF (S1), crop residue mulch with 75% RDF (S2) pre-emergence application of pendimethalin fb one hand weeding along with 100% RDF (S3), preemergence application of pendimethalin fb one hand weeding along with 75% RDF (S4), mechanical weeding twice with 100% RDF (S5), mechanical weeding twice with 75% RDF (S6)
Among the tillage practices and irrigation regimes, the total bacterial population was higher in minimum tillage practices with 0.6 IW/ CPE ratio of irrigation (M4) (101.7 × 106 cfu g-1 and 122.8 × 106 cfu g-1) at post-harvest soil of cotton during the year 2018 and 2019 respectively
Summary
Conservation agriculture is a concept evolved to respond to the concerns of sustainability of agriculture (FAO, 2012). The conservation agriculture is an effective alternative way to cultivate annual and perennial crop-based systems and with crop residue management to have a soil cover This will precede way to increase the organic matter content in the surface soil horizons. A long-term field experiment has confirmed that adding crop residues to agricultural land leads to a large increase in soil carbon stocks in the short term but minimal increase in the long term due to natural decay. In this regard, the study was conducted to assess the impact of conservation agricultural practice on biological properties of rhizosphere soil and yield of seed cotton during kharif 2018 and 2019
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