Physico-Chemical Properties of Soil and Mineral Composition of Plants as Affected by Fox Nut-Based Cropping Systems

Abstract

Foxnut (Euryale ferox Salisb.) is exclusively an aquatic crop and generally grown naturally in non-saline wetland areas having stagnant water. Prolonged submergence in lowlands impedes the cultivation of most field crops except few one such as rice. For enhancing the system productivity, crop diversification technology needs to be adopted in wetland/aquatic ecosystems as well. In present study fox nut-based eight different crop rotations, viz. fox nut-fox nut, fox nut-rice, fox nut-wheat, fox nut-berseem, fox nut-water chestnut, fox nut-rice-wheat, fox nut-rice-berseem and fox nut-water chestnut-berseem were followed consecutively for three years (2012-13 to 2015-16). The pooled data showed that fox nut-water chestnut-berseem cropping system had more organic carbon, available N, P and K to the tune of 25 %, 14.75 %, 26.66 % and 6.80 %, respectively over the fox nut-fox nut cropping system. The soils under fox nut-rice-berseem cropping system had the highest concentration of DTPA Cu (1.82 mg kg-1) and Zn (0.35 mg kg-1). Fox nut and water chestnut retained the highest tissue concentrations of the less soluble Fe and Mn and P, Cu and Zn. The results indicated that adoption of fox nut-water chestnut-berseem cropping system significantly improved the fertility status of soil in the aquatic low land ecosystem.