Vol. 12, Issue 11 (2023)

Author(s):
Nagaraj, Gundappagol RC, Mahadevswamy, Nagaraj M Naik and Sathynarayan Rao

Abstract:
The field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Kalaburagi during 2017-18 to study the microbial population dynamics and its relation to growth and yield of sorghum in organic farming system. The results showed improvement in the soil microbiological and biochemical properties in the treatments applied with organic manures. Among the different treatments, fully organic manures (100% NP) recorded significantly higher population of general and beneficial microbes viz., bacteria (114.25 X 106 cfu/g), fungi (75.50 X 104 cfu/g), actinomycetes (54.50 X 104 cfu/g), Azotobacter (17.50 X 104 cfu/g). The crop responded well to the different treatment combinations and found higher growth and yield parameters in the treatment applied as per recommended package of practices recorded (Plant height- 212.75 cm, Number of leaves- 10.09/plant, Dry matter accumulation-91.32 g/plant, Grain weight per ear head-31.00 g Stover yield-5.06 t/ha, Grain yield- 1568 kg/ha). Finally, to find the comparative profits between the treatments, the economics of the crop was worked out and found that the treatment which was maintained fully organically with 75 percent N and P (T₁) was superior among all the treatments with highest B:C ratio (2.84).