Effect of reduced tillage and mulching on soil health in Sesbania alley cropping based rainfed food - fodder systems. Issue 10 (24th August 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Palsaniya, Dana Ram; Kumar, T. Kiran; Chaudhary, Manoj; Choudhary, Mukesh
• Is Part Of: Archives of agronomy and soil science. Volume 69:Issue 10(2023)
• Page Start: 1750
• Page End: 1764
• Publication Date: 2023-08-24
• Subjects: Conservation agriculture -- mulching -- rainfed food-fodder systems -- soil properties -- tillage practices; Horticulture -- Periodicals; Soils -- Periodicals; 630.5
• DOI: 10.1080/03650340.2022.2111025
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0365-0340

Abstract

ABSTRACT: An experiment was laid out in split-plot design with 3- Sesbania alley-based rainfed food-ufodder systems [ Sesbania +(fodder sorghum–chickpea), Sesbania +(fodder sorghum–barley) and Sesbania +(fodder sorghum–mustard)] in main-plots and 6-reduced tillage and Sesbania mulching combinations in sub-plots to assess their impact on soil health. Minimum tillage (MT) during rainy season followed by zero tillage (ZT) during winter season along with mulch (MT-ZT+mulch) resulted in higher proportion of soil macro-aggregate, increased infiltration rate by 27.4%, hydraulic conductivity by 14.9% and water holding capacity by 5.9% (v/v) over conventional tillage (CT) during rainy season followed by conventional tillage during winter season without mulch (CT-CT without mulch). The MT-ZT+mulch had the highest soil organic carbon (7.3 g kg –1 ), microbial biomass carbon (226 mg kg –1 soil), SOC stock (14.9 Mg ha −1 ), carbon sequestration rate (1.72 Mg ha −1 year −1 ), soil quality index (SQI, 1.09) and enhanced the available soil N, P and K by 45.1, 47.2 and 22.2%, respectively, over CT-CT without mulching. The Sesbania alley + (fodder sorghum–mustard) cropping system had adverse effect on soil health while inclusion of chickpea in the system improved soil health and recorded the highest SQI (0.97).