Impacts on Various Management Practices on Crops Yield and Soil Biology in Maize-Wheat Cropping System

Aims: Integrated approaches that consider the synergies and trade-offs among tillage, residue, and nitrogen management are essential for optimizing agricultural sustainability to highlight the complex interplay between agronomic, environmental, and biological factors. We intended to evaluate the impact of tillage, residue, and nitrogen management on crop growth and soil biological properties under a maize-wheat cropping system in an inceptisol.

Study Design: Split-split plot design.

Place and Duration of Study: ICAR-IARI research farm, New Delhi, since 2014.

Methodology: We collected soil samples at the anthesis stage of wheat crop and silking stage of maize crop at 0-5, 5-15, and 15-30 cm soil depth. Soil properties, namely soil organic carbon, dehydrogenase, acid, and alkaline phosphatase, soil microbial biomass carbon, soil microbial biomass phosphorus, and glomalin content by using standard procedures.

Results: We observed that the soil organic carbon, enzyme activities, microbial biomass carbon and phosphorus, and glomalin content were significantly (P<0.05) higher under no-tillage and residue treatment at 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. Enzyme activity and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were significantly higher by application of 100 and 150% RDN, respectively, at 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. The effect of nitrogen treatment on biomass yield was significant (P<0.05) and found to be higher at 150% Recommended dose of Nitrogen (RDN). The biomass yield of maize was 15.3% and 44.5%, and wheat was 7.8% and 20.4%, significantly increased by applying 150% RDN over the 100% and 50% RDN respectively.

Conclusion: Farmers can successfully adopt NT with 5 t ha-1 crop residue mulch with 150% RDN to attain better soil health and higher biomass yield under the maize-wheat cropping system.