Nitrogen mineralization in neem cake amended soil and its uptake by wheat
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Date
2010
Authors
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
The effect of different proportions of neem cake on urea hydrolysis and N-transformation in
soils was studied in the laboratory. The findings of the study revealed that the amount of unhydrolysed
urea decreased with the increase of incubation period from 3 h to 24 h sampling in all the soils.
However, at a particular incubation period the hydrolysis of urea decreased markedly with increasing
proportions of neem cake treated with the soil. The content of NH4
+-N increased upto 1st day of
incubation in soils containing treatments from control to 50% N supplied through neem cake and
decreased with further increase in incubation period. Similarly, the soil amended with 75% N through
neem cake the NH4
+-N increased upto 7 days of incubation and decreased thereafter. On the other hand,
the increase in NH4
+-N content was found upto 28 days in soil amended with only neem cake and then
decreased with the further increase in incubation periods. The amount of NO3
--N increased with
increasing incubation period in all the soils. The NO3
--N content decreased significantly at each
incubation period as the proportions of N through neem cake increases from 25% to 100% as compared
to soil treated with 100% N through urea.
To study the effect of different levels of N and neem cake on yield and uptake of nutrients by
wheat a screen-house experiment was conducted. The results revealed that mean dry matter yield of
wheat increased significantly with increasing levels of N upto 60 mg kg-1 over control in the presence
of neem cake when it was applied at both 20 days before sowing and at the time of sowing. The dry
matter yield of wheat also enhanced significantly with the increasing doses of neem cake upto 0.125%
when applied at 20 days before sowing and 0.250% when applied at the time of sowing and then
decreased as the doses of neem cake increased to 0.500%. The uptake of N, P and K increased
significantly with increasing levels of neem cake upto 0.125% and 0.250%, respectively, when applied
at 20 and 0 days before sowing. The mean uptake of Zn, Cu and Mn by wheat increased with
increasing levels of N in the presence of neem cake upto 60 mg kg-1 over control when neem cake was
applied at both 0 and 20 days before sowing. Mean uptake of Fe increased upto 40 mg kg-1 N when
neem cake was applied at 20 days before sowing and upto 60 mg kg-1 when applied at 0 days before
sowing. The mean uptake of Zn and Cu also increased with increasing levels of neem cake upto
0.125% and 0.250%, respectively, when applied at 20 and 0 days before sowing. Similarly, mean
uptake of Fe increased with increasing levels of neem cake upto 0.125% in both the cases of neem cake
application. However, the mean uptake of Mn by wheat decreased with increasing levels of neem cake
at both 20 and 0 days before sowing. Available N, P and organic carbon content of post harvest soil
samples increased with the increasing levels of nitrogen and neem cake. The post-harvest available K
content decreased with the application of N but increased with the application of neem cake.
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Keywords
Fruits, Planting, Biological phenomena, Crop management, Farm inputs, Economics, Productivity, Markets, Sampling, Land resources