Impact of long term tillage and nutrient Management practices on carbon sequestration, Soil fertility and yield of Sabi Sorghum grown on Vertisol under rainfed conditions
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Date
2019
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Mahatha Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth,Rahuri
Abstract
Carbon emission and carbon sequestration are the two important
environmental phenomena occurring simultaneously at the soil surface which decides the
magnitude of C input and output in the surface soil and consequently soil fertility, crop
productivity and environmental quality. Since the tillage and nutrient management
practices contribute to balance between soil carbon inputs and output, it has become
imperative to study the long-term impact of various tillage and nutrient management
practices on soil C dynamics and C sequestration in order to improve soil fertility and
crop productivity, that to under rainfed semi-arid conditions; where the extreme weather
conditions such as intense solar radiations, increased atmospheric temperature coupled
with acute moisture stress conditions are responsible for increased CO2 emissions causing
soil fertility deterioration and crop productivity depletion. Since, the soil organic carbon
plays a key role in maintaining and improving soil quality in terms of physico- chemical and
biological properties, the development and adoption of appropriate tillage and nutrient
management practices has became necessary to maintain soil fertility and sustainable
crop productivity. With this view, the present investigation entitled, “Impact of long term
tillage and nutrient management practices on carbon sequestration, soil fertility and yieldof rabi sorghum grown on Vertisol under rainfed conditions” was undertaken at the Dry
Farming Research Station, Solapur during 2014-15 after completion of nine years of a
long term study undertaken by AICRP, DLA, Solapur so as to investigate the impact of
long-term tillage and nutrient management practices and their interactions on productivity
of rabi sorghum in Vertisol soil during 2005-06 to 2014-15.
The present experiment was laid down in the Factorial Randomized Block
Design with ten treatments and three replications. Treatments involved two factors viz.
Factor A: Tillage with three tillage practices i) Low tillage (LT), ii) Medium tillage (MT),
iii) Conventional tillage (CT) and Factor B: Nutrient management with three treatments i)
Organics alone (N1), ii) Organics + chemical fertilizers (N2), iii) Chemical Fertilizers
(RDF) (N3) with one control treatment. The rabi sorghum variety M35-1 was sown as
test crop in the present investigation.
As an organic source crop residues (i.e. byre waste) plus green leucaena
loppings were used according to treatments on the basis of nitrogen content and were
incorporated in the experimental plots one month prior to sowing of rabi sorghum. The
chemical fertilizers viz. Urea and single super phosphate were used as per treatments.
The experimental soils was medium deep black, neutral to slightly alkaline
in reaction, having pH 7.8, EC 0.23 dSm-1, low in available nitrogen, phosphorus and
very high in potassium. The bulk density of experimental soil was 1.25 Mg m-3 with
hydraulic conductivity 0.61 cm hr-1. The experimental soil was clay in texture having
swell-shrink property. The soil was of the Vertisol order with sub group Vertic
Ustochrept.
In the present investigation the depth wise soil samples at 0-15, 15-30 and
30-45 cm soil depths were collected, processed and analyzed in the laboratory for
estimation of various carbon fractions and C sequestration parameters as well as physical,
chemical and biological properties by adapting standard analytical methods.
The results revealed that among various tillage practices, the low tillage
(LT) practice which includes sowing with seed drill and light harrowing after sowing (SSDH)
significantly improved labile carbon fractions viz. WSC, POSC, POMC and recalcitrant
carbon fractions viz. HA-C and FA-C of the experimental soil over the period of nine