Impact of Resource Conservation technologies on soil structural properties in Rai block of Sonepat district of Haryana
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Date
2012
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
IARI, DIVISION OF AGRICULTURAL PHYSICS
Abstract
A study was conducted in farmers‘ fields of Rai block of Sonepat district to
study the long term impact of two widely adopted resource conservation technologies
(RCT‘s) namely bed planting and zero tillage on structural properties of soils of
recent alluvial plains of river Yamuna. Vegetables growing bed planted areas mostly
had medium texture soils, easy access to market and availability of fresh water. Zero
tillage was practiced mainly by farmers to timely sow wheat in fine textured soils and
low lying areas where soils do not dry even in mid-November.
Aggregate mean weight diameter by dry sieving and wet sieving (DS-MWD
and WS-MWD) under different RCT‘s were studied to compare structural condition
of the soils under continuous use of these technologies. Other important structural
indices such as dispersion ratio (a measure of ease of dispersion) (DR), colloid
moisture equivalent ration (a measure of ease of percolation) (CMER), erosion ratio
(EI), stability index (SI), clay ratio (CR) were also studied to monitor the
susceptibility of soil to erosion.
Results revealed that in the surveyed villages under conventional tillage, the
average magnitude of DR and ER were 0.58 and 0.82, respectively, and CMER was
<1, which indicated the erodible nature of these soils. Analysis of data of bed and
conventional systems revealed that on an average, there was 0.07-0.08% increase in
OC in bed planted system as compared to conventional system. It was mainly due to
fewer disturbances in soil because of reshaping of beds for next two seasons before
making fresh beds. Improved soil OC in bed system increased WS-MWD (1.89 mm)
as compared to CT (1.57 mm). On the other hand, DS-MWD of bed system was lower
than that of CT. Therefore CMWD was lower in beds as compared to CT, which
indicated improvement in aggregate stability by adoption of bed planting system. The
decrease of DR, ER and CR from 0.66, 0.52 and 4.25under CT to 0.42, 0.28 and 2.38
under beds indicated reduced eroding tendency of these soils under bed planting.
Similarly increase in CMER and SI from 0.75 and 20.2 under CT to 1.1 and 34 under
bed also indicated improvement in soil structural condition by bed planting.
Comparison of soil data of ZT and CT showed improvement in OC, AWC and
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reduction in BD and PR under ZT as compared to CT. Improved soil OC in ZT
increased WS-MWD (mm) as compared to CT (mm). The decrease of DR, ER and
CR from 0.74, 0.63 and 5.99 under CT to 0.6, 0.46 and 3.8 under ZT indicated
improved aggregation under zero tillage. Similarly increase in CMER and SI from
0.66 and 9.21 under CT to 0.7 and 20.4 under ZT also indicated improved soil
structural condition by adoption of zero tillage. Thus in nutshell it was concluded that
by adopting suitable RCT‘s soil carbon and aggregation were improved and soils
became more resistant to erosion.