Vol. 11, Special Issue 9 (2022)

Collective use of organic and inorganic sources is being considered the best way for increasing its accessibility to the cotton plants. The synergetic influence of organic with inorganic fertilizers improved the water holding capacity of soil, cation exchange capacity, soil aeration, phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) of applied fertilizer, soil nutrients availability, seed germination and plant growth rate which ultimately boosted up the final yield and net return. The present investigation was conducted at Research Farm, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Maharashtra, during year 2017-18 and 2018-19. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The main plot treatments comprised of nutrient management viz., INM (75% RDF + compensation through NPS compost) and Organic (100% NPK dose through NPS compost). Sub plot treatments consisted of cotton based intercropping systems viz., Cotton + dhaincha (1:1), Cotton + sunhemp (1:1), Cotton + greengram (1:1), Cotton + blackgram (1:1) and Sole cotton. Maximum cotton equivalent yield (1585 kg ha^-1) was obtained in cotton + greengram intercropping system, followed by cotton+ blackgram intercropping system (1531 kg ha^-1).

The experimental result showed that the significantly higher seed cotton yield and highest net return were recorded under treatment with application of 75% recommended dose of fertilizers with substitution of 25% dose through enriched compost (NPS). The 100% recommended dose of fertilizers through enriched NPS compost also showed improvement in cotton yield. However, maximum cotton equivalent yield was obtained in cotton + greengram intercropping system, followed by cotton+ blackgram intercropping system.

Thus the results revealed that, the chemical fertilizers of cotton can be reduced by 25% when compensated with enriched compost.