Restoration of rainwater techniques and fertilizer split application methods on yield and total nutrient uptake of rainfed sorghum under vertisols (Typic haplusterts)

Abstract

In rainfed situation soil erosion, low plant nutrients availability and soil moisture stress during cropping season are among the major limitations to high crop production and sustainable land management in a rainfed Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT) in India. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of land configuration practices and fertilizer split application methods under vertisols condition in Rabi sorghum. The results revealed that the in-situ soil moisture conservation practices viz., broad bed furrow registered the highest yield attributes, yield, soil fertility status and plant nutrient uptake in rainfed sorghum. Under vertisols rainfed condition soil moisture conservation methods viz., broad bed furrow recorded higher yield (1611 kg/ha), net income (Rs.6675/ha), BC ratio (1.37) and RWUE (4.49 kg/hamm). But in case of fertilizer treatments, the treatment applied with 20 kg N as urea + 20 kg P2O5 enriched with farm yard manure + 10 kg K2O/ha as basal application and top dressing as 20kg N as urea and 10kg K kg/ha registered higher yield attributes, grain yield (1734 kg/ha), stalk yield (4357 kg/ha), net income (Rs.10607), BC ratio (1.70) and RWUE (4.81 kg/hamm) and plant nutrient uptake viz., nitrogen uptake (67.82 kg/ha), phosphorus uptake (19.30 kg/ ha), potassium uptake (108.06 kg/ha) and zinc uptake (117.1), respectively.