Long Term Effect of Fertilizers and Amendments on Macronutrients Uptake by Maize and Relationship with Soil Organic Carbon in Maize-Wheat System in Acid Alfisol f North-oWestern Himalayas

Abstract

Present study was carried out during 2018 in the ongoing long-term fertilizer experiment, initiated in 1972 at the experimental kharif farm of the Department of Soil Science, Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, to study the effect of chemical fertilizers, farmyard manure and lime application on yield and nutrient uptake by maize and their relationship with soil organic C in an acid Alfisol. The experiment consisted of three replications of eleven treatments in a randomized block design. The results revealed that the continuous use of NPK fertilizers along with FYM or lime increased the maize yield by 46.7 and 38.5%, whereas omission of S and K from the fertilization schedule declined the yield by 54.8 and 52.2% over the sole use of NPK fertilizers, respectively. The uptake of N, P, K, S, Ca and Mg by maize grain and stover was significantly higher in 100% NPK+FYM and 100% NPK+lime than rest of the treatments. Soil organic C recorded a positive and significant relation with uptake of macronutrients by maize, the highest being with P uptake by maize grain (r = 0.918**).