Effect of Long-Term Application of Different Organic Resources on Soil Properties and Soil Quality Index of an Aridisol Under Mustard System

Le résumé fourni par la source

Aridisols are structurally poor and very low in fertility, organic matter (OM) and biological activities.Application of organics in Aridisols can enhance soil quality by improving its physical, chemical and biological properties.To quantify the influence of organic resources on soil quality indicators and indices, an experiment was conducted with five treatments -T1: Control, T2: FYM (4 t ha -1 ), T3: Vermicompost (4 t ha -1 ), T4: Dhaincha green manure (kharif crop incorporated in soil at 40 DAS) and T5: Cowpea green manure (kharif crop incorporated in soil at 40 DAS), replicated thrice in a randomized block design.Mustard (RH-30) was grown during the rabi season.The field experiment was conducted at the Hisar centre (CCS Haryana Agricultural University) of All-India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture, and the laboratory studies were conducted at ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad.Key soil quality indicators identified for mustard system in Aridisols of Hisar were available P, exchangeable Mg, and available Zn and Fe.Soil quality index (SQI) values varied from 0.71 to 1.04 and the relative soil quality index (RSQI) values, between 0.65 and 0.95 across treatments.Among the treatments, the application of FYM @ 4 t ha -1 showed the highest soil quality index of 1.04 which was statistically at par with all the other treatments.The relative order of performance in influencing soil quality in terms of SQI was: T2: FYM (4 t ha -1 ) (1.04) > T5: Cowpea green manure (40 DAS) (1.00) > T3: Vermicompost (4 t ha -1 ) (0.95) > T4: Dhaincha green manure (40 DAS) (0.89) > T1: Control (0.71).The average percent contribution of key indicators towards soil quality indices was: available Zn (63%), exchangeable Mg (13%), available Fe (11%) and available P (7%).The results of this study could be useful for improving the soil quality indicators in Aridsols and to enhance the soil productivity.

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