Abstract
An experiment was conducted on an alkaline clay loam soil of Golagamdi, India during 2005-2006 to study the effect of Farm Yard Manure and pressmud on fertility status of alkali soil under maize-wheat cropping sequence. The treatment consist of three levels of organic manure M0- no manure; M1- FYM at the rate of 10 tha-1; M2- Pressmud at the rate of 5 tha-1 and six fertilizer levels; F0- no fertilizer; F1- 75% of recommended N and P; F2-100% of recommended N and P; F3- 75% of recommended N and P+S+Zn+Fe; F4-100% of recommended N and P+S+Zn+Fe; F5- 100% of recommended N and P+foliar spray of 1% multi-micronutrient. The direct effect of FYM (M1) and pressmud (M2) reduced pH of soil. The maximum pH (8.26) was recorded from control after the harvest of wheat and the lowest (8.17) from F5. The highest EC (0.38 dS m-1) was recorded from F5 followed by F4 (0.37 dS m-1) and the lowest from control (0.27 dS m-1). The pressmud was more effective in reducing soil pH and increasing the EC than by FYM. The application of FYM (M1) and pressmud (M2) increased the available N, P, S, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn in soil. The available N, S, Fe and Zn content under pressmud application was more than the FYM. However, the residual effect of FYM (M1) maintained higher available P (71.49 kg ha-1), K, Zn than PM (M2). Residual effect of the pressmud (M2) showed maximum available S (27.99 mg kg-1) as compared to FYM (M1) (15.86 mg kg-1). M2F3 and M2F4 treatment combinations performed better than other combinations regarding the S and Zn content of soil. The direct effect of pressmud was higher in case of Fe content than FYM. The residual effect of both FYM (1.02 mg kg-1) and pressmud (1.01 mg kg-1) significantly increased DTPA extractable Mn content in soil over control (3.27 mg kg-1) after wheat harvest. Direct effect of FYM on maize was found slightly depressed DTPA extractable Cu contents as compared to pressmud. However, the Cu content was increased again after the harvest of wheat. Key words: Farm yard manure (FYM), pressmud, residual effect, electrical conductivity (EC), maize-wheat cropping.
Highlights
The loss of soil fertility, in many developing countries due to continuous nutrient depletion by crops without adequate replenishment poses an immediate threat to food and environmental securities
Application of 15 t Farm yard manure (FYM) or 7.5 t pressmud or 5 t poultry manure ha-1 year-1 with or without NP fertilizers could not sustain the initial level of N but in case of P, K and micronutrients (Zn, Mn, Fe and Cu) can be maintained through (Antil and Singh, 2007; Antil and Narwal, 2007). These results indicated that fertilizer-N cannot be saved with the application of organic manures but the application of P, K and micronutrients fertilizers can be avoided
The results revealed that DTPA extractable Mn in soil at maize harvest was found comparatively higher than wheat
Summary
The loss of soil fertility, in many developing countries due to continuous nutrient depletion by crops without adequate replenishment poses an immediate threat to food and environmental securities. Of Indian soils have been found deficient in Zn, 15% in Fe, 3% in Cu, 5% in Mn, 33% in B and 13% in Mo (Singh, 2001). The problem of imbalance fertilizer use in case of secondary and micronutrients is even worse wherein the.
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