Soil organic matter and biological properties after 26 years of maize–wheat–cowpea cropping as affected by manure and fertilization in a Cambisol in semiarid region of India
Introduction
Present day concern regarding the long-term productivity and sustainability of agro-ecosystems is leading to the development of new approaches which are able to maintain and protect soil resources (Harris and Bezdicek, 1994). The issue is directly related to maintain the quantity of soil organic matter which is a critical component of soil productivity. The level of organic matter in soil is considered to be a function of the net input of organic residues by the cropping system (Gregorich et al., 1996). Therefore, soil and crop management practices such as cultivation, crop rotation, residue management and fertilization exert a considerable influence on the level of organic matter retained over time. The benefits of balanced fertilization using crop residues, organic manure and green manuring in maintaining soil organic matter levels have been increasingly emphasized (Ladd et al., 1994, Chander et al., 1997).
Soil biota are considered an important and labile fraction of soil organic matter involved in energy and nutrient cycling. It has been well established that the more dynamic characteristics such as microbial biomass, soil enzyme activity and soil respiration respond more quickly to changes in crop management practices or environmental conditions than do characteristics such as total soil organic matter (Dick, 1992, Doran et al., 1996). Much information is available on the build-up and turnover of soil organic matter and its various fractions under temperate conditions.
Under tropical conditions where the turnover rate of soil organic matter is comparatively rapid (Chander et al., 1997), only few studies have been conducted on soil organic matter dynamics and soil microbial activities in relation to application of inorganic fertilizers or organic amendments (Goyal et al., 1993, Goyal et al., 1999). The present study was undertaken to ascertain the changes in soil organic matter level, microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities as influenced by the long-term application of fertilizers and manure to maize–wheat–cowpea cropping system in semi-arid region of India.
Section snippets
Description of field experiment
Ten treatments were selected from a long-term experiment at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India (28°37′–28°39′N latitude and 77°9′–77°11′E longitude). The experiment was started in 1971 on Cambisol (540 g kg−1 sand, 170 g kg−1 silt and 290 g kg−1 clay) with a maize–wheat–fodder cowpea cropping sequence. The initial soil pH was 8.3, electrical conductivity 0.45 dS m−1, CEC 10.6 cmol (p+) kg−1, organic carbon 4.4 g kg−1, NaHCO3-extractable P 16 kg ha−1, NH4OAc-extractable K 155 kg ha−1 and
Soil C and N
Grain and drymatter yield of all the three crops (data not shown) increased significantly with fertilizer nutrients and manure application thus emphasizing the essentiality of balanced nutrition attaining maximum crop yields. The response of crops (mean of 26 years) was directly related to the build-up of soil organic matter in the soil due to nutrient and manure application over the years (Fig. 1). The organic C and N contents presented in Table 1, provide a measure of organic matter status of
Conclusions
The data obtained from semi-arid sub-tropical conditions suggests that, as compared to unbalanced and sub-optimum fertilizer application, the organic C status in soil was improved by balanced application of chemical fertilizer nutrients and manure. The yields of all the three crops namely wheat, maize and cowpea showed a strong relationship between the organic carbon build-up in soil reflecting in greater C inputs, C and N mineralization and better crop productivity in these treatments. Soil
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2022, Scientia HorticulturaeCitation Excerpt :In the present study noteworthy improvements in soil microbial enzymatic activity were noticed due to fertilizer application. Nutrients are required for microbial growth and metabolism (Manjaiah and Singh 2001; Choudhary et al., 2014) probably therefore, enhancement in the microbial activity was observed under present experimentation. Furthermore, application of nutrients enhances both above ground and below ground growth of plants thereby increasing the rhizospheric effect and microbial activities (Bamboriya et al., 2017).