Changes in Soil Enzymes and Nutrients under Organically Grown Rainfed Pearl Millet in Vertisol

Select Volume / Issue:

• Volume 1,Issue 6, Nov. 2014

Year:

2014

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Available Nutrients, Organic Farming, Pearl Millet, Soil Enzymes

Authors:

Thakare, Ritu; Wake, Archana

Journal:

IJRAS

Volume:

1

Number:

6

Pages:

363-366

Month:

November

Note:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Abstract:

Field experiment during Kharif 2011was laid out with eight treatments replicated thrice in Randomized Block Design. Treatments comprising of absolute control, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 ton FYM ha-1, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 ton Vermicompost ha-1, and combination of 2.5 ton FYM ha-1 + 1.0 ton Vermicompost ha-1. Soil chemical analysis was carried out at sowing, 45 days after sowing and at harvest of crop. While, soil enzymes were estimated at sowing and 45 DAS of crop. Application of organic manures significantly enhanced the microbial activities over control. The highest dehydrogenase activity (97.26 µg TPF g-1 soil 24 hr-1) and alkaline phosphatase activity (137.43 µg P –Nitrophenol g-1 soil 24 hr-1) were recorded in the treatment receiving 2.5 ton FYM ha-1 + 1.0 ton vermicompost ha-1 followed by application of 7.5 ton FYM ha-1 and 3.0 ton vermicompost ha-1. The maximum urease activity (0.358 NH4 -N released g-1 soil 24 hr-1) was noted under the treatment 7.5 ton FYM ha-1 followed by the treatment 2.5 ton FYM ha-1 + 1.0 ton vermicompost ha-1. Increasing levels of both the manures increases the enzyme activities. However, there was less activities of these enzymes at sowing stage and further increased at 45 days after sowing. The organic carbon content and available nutrients (N, P and K) in soil were found significantly highest in the treatment receiving 7.5 ton FYM ha-1 followed by the application of 2.5 ton FYM ha-1 + 1.0 ton Vermicompost ha-1. The soil fertility in terms of nutrient availability was significantly improved with the addition of organic manures over control. The soil enzymes showed positive and significant relationship with organic carbon and available nutrients.

Full text: IJRAS_144_Final.pdf [Bibtex]