Soil fertility status as influenced by integrated nutrient management in mustard

– cowpea – rice cropping sequence in lateritic soils of KonkanSHILPA BABAR AND J. H. DONGALE

ABSTRACTThe field experiment was conducted to study the effect of integrated nutrient management on nutrient content and uptake in

mustard – cowpea – rice cropping sequence in lateritic soil of Konkan. The soil fertility parameters viz., bulk density, porosity,

organic carbon content, microbial count (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes) and content of available nutrients (NPK) in soil showed

significant improvement with the application of organic, inorganic and organic + inorganic sources of nutrients compared to control

treatment. The highest microbial count in soil was contributed under INM T7 treatment and its effects were significantly superior

over to those of chemical fertilizes alone (T3) or use of organic manure alone (T

2). The content of available nutrients in soil was also

slightly higher with T7 treatment compared to use of only chemical fertilizers (T

3). It is therefore, in lateritic soil of Konkan for

mustard – cowpea – rice cropping sequence the integrated nutrient management practice i.e. application of 50 per cent recommended

dose of N, P2O5 and K

2O be applied through chemical fertilizers and the remaining 50 per cent recommended dose be applied

through manure for each crop in the cropping sequence for soil fertility sustenance and saving of chemical fertilizers. For mustard

and cowpea FYM be used as manure and for rice, glyricidia green leaf manuring be used.

INTRODUCTION

The basic concept underlying the INM is

maintenance of soil fertility and plant nutrient supply to

an optimum level for sustaining the desired crop

productivity through optimization of benefits from all

possible sources of plant nutrients in an integrated manner.

The appropriate combination of mineral fertilizers, organic

manures, crop residues, compost, N fixing crop /

biofertilizers varies according to the system of land use,

ecological, soil and economical conditions. The INM has

assumed great importance because of the present

negative nutrient balance and secondly, neither the

chemical alone nor organic sources exclusively can

achieve the production sustainability of soil as well as

crop under highly intensive cropping systems.

The INM helps in restoring and sustaining soil

fertility and crop productivity. It also helps in arresting

the emerging deficiency of macro, secondary and micro

nutrients favourably by optimizing the physical, chemical

and biological environment of soil and achieving economy

and efficiency in fertilizer use. In view of shrinkage of

land resources for cultivation, short supply and escalating

cost of chemical fertilizers, environmental pollution and

ill effects on soil, animals, and human health there is a

need to adopt INM concept for achieving the objective

of environmentally and economically sustainable

agriculture.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The field experiment was conducted on Research

Farm, Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture,

Dapoli, during Rabi, summer and Kharif season 2005-

06. The field experiment was carried out in Randomized

Block Design comprising three replications and eight

Correspondence to :

SHILPA BABAR, Department of Crop Production, Central Institute for Cotton Research, NAGPUR (M.S.) INDIA

Authors’ affil iations:

J.H. DONGALE, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Dr. Babasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, RATNAGIRI

(M.S.) INDIA

Babar, Shilpa and Dongale, J.H. (2011). Soil fertility status as influenced by integrated nutrient management in mustard –

cowpea – rice cropping sequence in lateritic soils of Konkan. Asian J. Soil Sci., 6(1): 33-38.

An Asian Journal of Soil ScienceVol. 6 No. 1 (June, 2011) : 33-38

Research

PaperReceived : February, 2011; Accepted : March, 2011

•HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE•

Key words : Lateritic soil, Mustard, Cowpea, Rice, Available N, P and K, Organic carbon

•HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE• [ 34 ] [Asian J. Soil Sci., 6 (1); (June, 2011)]

treatments (Table 1).

The pH and electrical conductivity (dS m-1) of soil

was determined (Jackson, 1967), organic carbon (%) was

determined by following Walkly and Black wet digestion

method. (Black, 1965b), available N (kg ha-1) was

determined by following alkaline permanganate (0.31%

KMnO4) method (Subbaih and Asija, 1956), available P

2O

5

was determined by following Bray’s II method. (Black,

1965b) and available K2O was determined

flamephotometrically by neutral N NH4OAc. (Jackson,

1967). Bulk density was determined by using clod method

as described by Black (1965a) and biological properties

were determined by serial dilution method as described

by Rangaswami (1966).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results obtained from the present investigation

as well as relevant discussion have been presented under

following heads:

Changes in soil properties:

Bulk density and porosity:

The mean bulk density of soil after harvest of mustard,

cowpea and rice were 1.16, 1.17 and 1.18 Mg m-3,

respectively as against the initial BD of experimental soil

was 1.30 Mg m-3. The bulk density of soil decreased

from 1.30 to 1.18 Mg m-3 due to cropping effect. The

effect of different treatments on BD was significant only

after harvest of mustard crop whereas it was non

significant after harvest of cowpea and rice crops. With

respect to mustard crop the alone organic treatments (T1

and T2) contributed significantly lower bulk density value

of soil and contributed significantly higher porosity

compared to control. Sharma et al. (2000) also reported

similar results (Table 2). Bellakki et al. (1998) concluded

that the addition of different organics viz., cow dung slurry,

paddy straw and glyricidia in combination with inorganic

fertilizers decreased the BD and increased the porosity

of soil significantly over control.

pH and EC:

The soil pH was influenced significantly due to

various treatments of mustard, cowpea and rice but the

treatment effects were not significant (Table 2). In

general addition of organic manure alone i.e. FYM

increased significantly the soil pH after harvest of mustard

and cowpea. But such effect was not observed with

glyricidia green manure with rice crop. With respect to

mustard the effect of chemical fertilizers either alone or

in combination with FYM / glyricidia were statistically at

par with each other including control indicating no change

in soil pH with these treatments. In general the various

treatments did not influence significantly the electrical

conductivity of soil. Ramteke et al. (1998) studied

sustainable crop production through cropping system and

organic farming and observed that application of FYM

@ 10 tone ha-1 increased soil pH.

Organic carbon:

In mustard application of only organic sources of

nutrients (T1 and T

2) and 50: 50 INM treatment (T

7)

improved significantly the organic carbon status of soil

Table 1: Effect of integrated nutrient management on physicochemical properties of lateritic soil

Treatments Mustard Cowpea Rice Treat.

No. Mustard Cowpea Rice

BD

(Mg m-3)

Porosity

(%)

BD

(Mg m-3)

Porosity

(%)

BD

(Mg m-3)

Porosity

(%)

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

125% N (M)

100% N (M)

100%NPK IF)

100%NPK (IF) +

25% N (M)

75% NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF)

+ 25% N (M)

50% NPK (IF)

+ 50% N (M)

Control

Residual

100% N (M)

100%NPK(IF)

50%NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF)

+ 25% N (M)

50% NPK (IF)

+ 50% N (M)

Control

Residual

50% N (M)

100% NPK (IF)

100%NPK(IF)

+ 25% N (M)

75% NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF)

+ 25% N (M)

50% NPK (IF)

+ 50% N (M)

Control

1.09

1.15

1.17

1.17

1.17

1.18

1.18

1.24

56.65

54.37

53.47

53.47

53.57

53.27

53.17

50.79

1.21

1.14

1.12

1.19

1.16

1.18

1.19

1.20

51.88

54.86

55.65

52.78

53.87

53.27

52.88

52.28

1.19

1.16

1.14

1.19

1.19

1.19

1.19

1.21

52.88

54.17

54.76

52.88

52.78

52.68

52.88

52.08

Mean

F test

SE±

C.D. (0.05)

1.16

Sig

0.02

0.07

53.60

Sig

1.10

3.35

1.17

NS

0.02

-

53.60

NS

1.0

-

1.18

NS

0.04

-

53.14

NS

1.4

-

SHILPA BABAR AND J. H. DONGALE

[Asian J. Soil Sci., 6 (1); (June, 2011)]•HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE• [ 35 ]

compared to control (Table 2). Similar trend was also

noticed in case of cowpea and rice. In cowpea and rice

the treatment effect on organic carbon content of soil

was non significant. The content of organic carbon in soil

with 50: 50 INM treatments (T7) was also slightly higher

compared to control throughout the entire cropping system.

Powar (2004) found that organic carbon content was

increased by almost double due to application of 50: 50

INM treatments to that of 100 per cent NPK (IF)

treatment. Bajpai et al. (2006) also found that when 50

per cent N was substituted with Sesbania aculata,

organic carbon content in soil was increased compared

to 100 per cent NPK (IF).

Biological count:

The bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes count in

lateritic soil during the mustard – cowpea – rice cropping

system was influenced significantly due to various

treatments (Table 3). At the harvest stage of mustard,

the bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes count increased

significantly due to different treatments from 7.50 to 17.00

, 11.50 to 24.50 and from 3.00 to 8.00, respectively

compared to control. The corresponding values at harvest

of cowpea ranged from 8.25 to 13.00, 17.75 to 38.00 and

4.00 to 11.25 and at harvest of rice 1.75 to 5.00, 1.25 to

4.50 and 1.50 to 7.00, respectively. Application of manures

alone, chemical fertilizers alone and manure + chemical

fertilizers in integration showed positive influence in

increasing bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes count in

soil compared to control. Among the various crop growing

seasons the highest microbial (bacteria / fungi /

actinomycetes) count was noticed during summer season

when cowpea crop was growing followed by winter

season when mustard crop was growing and was least

during Kharif season when rice crop was growing under

submerge condition. Among the various microorganisms,

the fungi contributed the highest count followed by bacteria

and least was actinomycetes. The 50: 50 per cent INM

treatment T7 consistently contributed the highest bacterial,

fungal and actinomycetes count in soil throughout the

cropping system and its effect was significantly superior

over application of either chemical fertilizer alone (T3) or

organic manure alone (T1, T

2). The application of chemical

fertilizers @ 100 per cent RDF (T3) contributed

significantly higher bacterial count and also fungal count

compared to control, in case of mustard and cowpea crops,

however, its effect was significantly inferior as compared

to INM treatments (T7). But this treatment (T

3) failed to

increase significantly the bacterial and fungal count when

the rice was growing under submerge condition. The

positive effect of manure and balance fertilization in

enhancing the microbial count in soil as discussed above

is in agreement with those reported by Malewar et al.

(1999a) and Sharma et al. (1983). Datt and Sharma (2006)

also reported significant improvement in microbial count

and microbial biomass in soil with green manuring and

also residue incorporation through mungbean.

Changes in available nutrient status of soil:

Available nitrogen:

The variation in available N status of soil due to

different treatments was statistically non significant at

Table 2: Effect of integrated nutrient management on pH, EC and organic carbon of lateritic soil

Treatments Mustard Cowpea Rice Treat.

No. Mustard Cowpea Rice

pH

(1:2.5)

EC

dSm-1

OC

(%)

pH

(1:2.5)

EC

dSm-1

OC

(%)

pH

(1:2.5)

EC

dSm-1

OC

(%)

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

125% N (M)

100% N (M)

100% NPK (IF)

100% NPK (IF)

+ 25% N (M)

75% NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF)

+ 25% N (M)

50% NPK (IF)

+ 50% N (M)

Control

Residual

100% N (M)

100% NPK (IF)

50% NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF) +

25% N (M)

50% NPK (IF) +

50% N (M)

Control

Residual

50% N (M)

100% NPK (IF)

100% NPK (IF)

+ 25% N (M)

75% NPK (IF)

75% NPK (IF)

+ 25% N (M)

50% NPK (IF)

+ 50% N (M)

Control

5.91

6.01

5.76

5.74

5.74

5.71

5.76

5.79

0.20

0.21

0.21

0.23

0.20

0.23

0.24

0.17

1.37

1.38

1.24

1.30

1.25

1.29

1.31

1.19

6.05

6.07

5.87

6.00

5.97

6.00

5.94

5.82

0.12

0.12

0.13

0.14

0.14

0.13

0.13

0.12

1.34

1.35

1.24

1.26

1.27

1.27

1.27

1.23

5.98

5.90

5.98

5.80

5.93

5.83

5.75

5.95

0.09

0.12

0.13

0.11

0.14

0.12

0.10

0.11

1.45

1.42

1.37

1.34

1.37

1.37

1.34

1.28

Mean

F test

SE±

C.D. (0.05)

5.80

Sig.

0.05

0.14

0.20

NS

0.015

-

1.29

Sig

0.02

0.05

5.97

Sig.

0.05

0.14

0.12

NS

0.006

-

1.27

NS

0.02

-

5.89

NS

0.06

-

0.11

NS

0.01

-

1.37

NS

0.04

-

SOIL FERTILITY AS INFLUENCED BY INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT IN MUSTARD – COWPEA – RICE CROPPING SEQUENCE

•HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE• [ 36 ] [Asian J. Soil Sci., 6 (1); (June, 2011)]

both the growth stages of mustard whereas they were

statistically positive and significant at both the growth

stages of cowpea and rice (Table 4). The content of

available N in soil at flowering stage and at harvest of

mustard increased from 268.6 to 313.6 kg ha-1 and from

230.5 to 279.1 kg ha-1 due to different treatments but the

effects were statistically non significant. At harvest stage

of cowpea and rice crops the available N status of soil

was significantly improved under the 100 per cent RDF

treatment and 50: 50 per cent INM treatment (T7) and

75: 25 per cent INM treatment (T6). The FYM application

@ 100 % N (M) to cowpea registered significant increase

in available N content of soil at flowering stage of cowpea.

Similarly, glyricidia green leaf manuring (T2) to rice also

increased consistently the available N status of soil at PI

and harvest stage of rice and effects were statistically

significant. In general at harvest of rice i.e. at the end of

mustard – cowpea – rice cropping sequence all the

treatments increased significantly the available N status of

soil from 252.1 to 345.0 kg ha-1 over control with the mean

available N status of 308.5 kg ha-1 showing enrichment in

N fertility status of soil compared to initial status of available

N (238.34 kg ha-1). Singh (2006) also reported similar results

with rice - wheat system. The higher N availability with

green manuring and also in INM treatment compared to

the use of only mineral fertilizers @ 100 per cent RDF

was observed in the present investigation.

Available phosphorus:

The content of available phosphorus in soil showed

significant increase under all treatment combinations

throughout the cropping sequence compared to control

with the only exception of T5 treatment with reference to

cowpea and T1 treatment with reference to rice (Table

4). In general application of manure i.e. FYM / glyricidia

to each crop (T2) showed highest improvement in

available P2O

5 status of soil which was followed by 50:

50 % INM treatment (T7) and then 100 per cent RDF

treatment (T3). After harvest of rice crop i.e. at the end

of mustard – cowpea – rice cropping sequence the content

of available phosphorus in soil increased significantly from

16.7 to 22.6 kg P2O

5 ha-1 due to different treatments over

control with the exception of T1 (Residual) treatment with

a mean status of 19.6 kg P2O

5 ha-1. As compared to initial

soil P status (17.23 kg P2O

5 ha-1) there was enrichment

of soil P status under all treatment combinations with the

only exception of T1 (Residual) and control treatment (T

8).

Only in the control treatment (T8) there was slight

depletion in the status of available P2O

5 (15.1 to 16.7 kg

P2O

5 ha-1) compared to the initial status of 17.23 kg P

2O

5

ha-1. The positive effect of manure, inorganic fertilizers

SHILPA BABAR AND J. H. DONGALE

[Asian J. Soil Sci., 6 (1); (June, 2011)]•HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE• [ 37 ]

and their integration in improving available P2O

5 status of

soil periodically in mustard – cowpea – rice cropping

sequence is in accordance with Singh et al. (2006) with

respect to rice - wheat system.

Available potassium:

The content of available K in soil increased

significantly due to different treatments during the growth

period of mustard, cowpea and rice as compared to control

except the treatment T1 and T

4 at harvest of cowpea and

T1 at harvest stage of rice (Table 4) . At harvest stage of

mustard, cowpea and rice the content of available K2O

in soil increased significantly from 117.8 to 254.0 kg ha-1,

from 109.2 to 139.3 kg ha-1 and from 73.0 to 96.2 kg ha-

1, respectively due to various treatments compared to

control with the exception of T1and T

4 treatment in case

of cowpea and T1 in case of rice. In control treatment

(T8) the mean potassium fertility status showed gradual

depletion from mustard to harvest of rice crop from 122.3

kg ha-1. At the end of cropping sequence the content of

available K2O was depleted from the initial value of 100.8

kg ha-1 to the mean value of 90.8 kg ha-1 inspite of

application of potassium for all the crops either through

manure or inorganic fertilizers. Bellanki and Badanur

(1997) who reported increased in potassium availability

with the continuous use of manure, balance fertilizers and

combine use of manures + fertilizers with respect to

sorghum – safflower and rice – wheat cropping system

compared to control treatment

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