Vol. 11, Issue 6 (2022)

Author(s):
Gurumurthy SB, Raghavendra KS, Chandan K and Vidya J Bhat

Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted for two years (2018-19 to 2019-20) to evaluate the influence of different farming practices (Natural farming, organic and recommended package of practice (RPP) with the check as chemical farming) on plant growth, soil nutrient status, soil microbial and enzymatic activity in rhizosphere of black pepper at College of Horticulture, Sirsi, Karnataka. India. Among different farming practices, RPP recorded significantly higher plant height (2.60 cm), stem girth (0.664 cm), internodal length (8.608 cm), leaf length (15.607 cm), breadth (12.553 cm) and leaf area (465.5cm2) were also recorded highest in conventional followed by organic farming practice. The higher number of runners (4.56) was recorded in RPP and it is on par with organic farming practice (4.34). Treatment receiving Natural farming recorded the highest microbial population viz., Bacteria (70.48 x10⁶ CFU soil^-1), fungi (17.49 x10³ CFU soil^-1), actinomycetes (39.34 x10⁴ CFU soil^-1), Free living nitrogen fixers (27.65 x10⁴ CFU soil^-1) and P-solubilizers population (22.64 x10⁴ CFU soil^-1) and enzymatic activity viz., dehydrogenase activity (19.99 (µg TPF formed g^-1 soil d^-1) and phosphatase activity (15.66 (µg PNP released g^-1 soil h^-1). All these Paramerters are on par with organic farming practice when compared with RPP and control.