Effects of inorganic phosphorus fractions under different tillage practices on wheat (&lt;em&gt;Triticum aestivum&lt;/em&gt;) in an acid soil of West Bengal (India)

K Mandal,D Mukhopadhyay

doi:10.4038/tare.v18i3.5332

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for plant growth and is usually applied to soil as inorganic P fertilizer. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of inorganic phosphorus fractions and tillage operations (conventional and zero tillage) on the yield of the crop. The field experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with nine treatments replicated three times. Recommended dose (RD) of fertilizer (kg/ha) of N:P:K @100:60:40 (RD) was modified in different treatments as ; T 1 (untreated control), T 2 (NP as RD), T 3 (K+P as RD),T 4 (NK as RD +P as 25% of RD)], T 5 [NK as RD and P as 50% of RD ],T 6 [NK as RD and P as 75% of RD; T 7 [NKP as RD], T 8 [NK as RD and P as125% of RD ] and T 9 [NK as RD and P as 150% of RD] . Surface soils were collected (0-20 cm depth) from each plot and important soil properties were studied. The soil was acidic in reac-tion having pH- 5.6 and EC of 0.06 dSm -1 . The available N-P-K in soil was 126.34 kg/ha, 20.13 kg/ha and 133.28 kg/ha respectively. The inorganic forms of phosphorus (Ca-P, Al-P, Fe-P, Re-P), in soils during the experimental period showed higher fractions in the conventional tillage than the zero tillage operation. The Al-P fraction of soil affected significantly (P=0.05) towards the yield of the crop (wheat) compared to other P-fractions.

Highlights

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is the world's most important cereal crop after maize and rice, in terms of both area cultivated (232 million ha) and amount of grain produced (595 million t)
Wheat has a high demand for phosphorus and can grow well when phosphorus is not supplemented in the fertilizer schedule, may be due to the wheat’s ability to mine phosphorus from the soil
The different P-fractions (AlP, Fe-P, Re-P, and Ca-P ) of soils were recorded at CRI (Crown Root Initiation), flowering and at harvest of wheat respectively

Summary

Introduction

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is the world's most important cereal crop after maize and rice, in terms of both area cultivated (232 million ha) and amount of grain produced (595 million t). Wheat has a high demand for phosphorus and can grow well when phosphorus is not supplemented in the fertilizer schedule, may be due to the wheat’s ability to mine phosphorus from the soil. Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for plant growth and is applied in soil as the inorganic and/or organic P and is critical for the sustainability of cropping systems. Transformation of different forms of phosphorus (P) control the soil P and the processes are strongly influenced by temperature, moisture, plant growth, root activity as well as by organic matter status of the soil.

Methods

Results

Conclusion