Vol. 10, Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
Shikha Verma, BK Agarwal, P Mahapatra, DK Shahi, CS Singh, Pragyan Kumari, Arvind Kumar, Reshma Shinde and Jai Prakash Kumar

Abstract:
The present experiment was undertaken in a long term fertilizer experiment (LTFE) which has been in progress since 1972-73 at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India an acidic red loam soil (Paleustalf) to determine the carbon management index (CMI) as influenced by different nutrient management practices involving the use of either chemical fertilizers alone or in integration with organic manure or lime. Sustainable yield index (SYI) of soybean-wheat cropping system over the years (1972-2019) was maximum in treatment receiving FYM along with 100% NPK followed by 100%NPK+Lime treatment. Use of organic manure along with balanced NPK fertilizer significantly increased the soil organic carbon content over control and treatments involving the use of only chemical fertilizers. 100%NPK+FYM+ Weedicide (W) treatment also recorded highest concentration of permanganate oxidizable soil carbon (POSC) followed by 100%NPK+lime+W treatment followed by 100%NPK+W. Treatment consisting of only N fertilizer had deleterious effect on soil organic carbon, total carbon as well as POSC, where all these carbon fractions were even lower than the control. With respect to CMI, all the treatments recorded higher index value compared to control which was taken as a reference except 100%N. Integrated application of FYM and 100%NPK registered highest CMI value followed by 100%NPK+Lime. The study indicated that integrated use of FYM or lime along with balanced NPK is superior in terms of carbon management together with increasing the sustainability of agricultural production system in acid soils of Ranchi.