Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Suvarna Latha. A.J, Ratna Prasad P, Trimurtulu N, Madhuvani P and Srinivasa Rao V

Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted on clay soils of Agricultural Research Station, Amaravathi, Guntur during rabi 2017-18 and 2018-19 to find out the influence of crop residues on soil biological activity, growth and yield of chickpea under rainfed agro-climatic condition of Krishna zone. The korra crop residue was incorporated in soil 45 days before sowing of chickpea either alone or in combination with microbial consortia and starter dose of N and P fertilizers as decomposition accelerators. The enzyme activities and microbial populations assayed at different crop growth stages of chickpea were significantly increased by the application of crop residue along with microbial consortia. The dry matter accumulation at different stages and grain yield of chickpea were significantly influenced by the treatments. Among the treatments, the highest dry matter accumulation and grain yield of were recorded with 100 per cent RDF(20:50:0:40) and was at par with the treatment T_7, which received crop residue @1.5 t ha^-1 + Microbial consortium@2 kg t^-1+ urea 3 kg t^-1 + SSP 15 kg t^-1 of residue incorporated to chickpea during both the years of the experimentation.