International Journal of Plant & Soil Science

Nutrient Release Characteristic of Multinutrient Pellet for Organic Farming in Rice (Oryza sativa L) for Acid Sulphate Soils

A. K. Rohith — 2023-03-14

Aim: To develop a multinutrient pellet for organic farming in rice and investigation on the nutrient release characteristics of pellet in acid sulphate soils of Kuttanad.

Study Design: This experiment was conducted through completely randomized design with 8 treatments and 3 replications.

Place and Duration of Study: The research was appraised at the Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture Vellayani, between July 2022 - September 2022.

Methods: Pellets were prepared using organic nutrient sources permitted in NPOP and a 60 day laboratory incubation experiment was performed to evaluate the nutrient release pattern of pellets. Standard procedures were used to analyze the nutrient content in pellets and quantity of nutrients in soil samples drawn from incubation experiment.

Results: Nutrient availability increased from the 15^th to the 60^th day, and the maximum was observed on 60^thday. The soil pH, EC, dehydrogenase activity, and humic acid content increased throughout the incubation period, while organic carbon and fulvic acid content declined.

Conclusion: The gross nutrient release was found to be the highest in pellet containing bloodmeal, rockphosphate and potassium sulphate.

Effect of Wheat Straw along with Different Botanicals on Growth and Yield of Pleurotus florida (Oyster Mushroom)

Karthik Reddy Annem — 2023-03-15

The present investigation entitled “Effect of wheat straw along with different botanicals on the growth and yield of Pleurotus florida (Oyster mushroom)” was carried out in the Mushroom Crop Room and Research Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, SHUATS, Prayagraj. The experiment was conducted by using wheat straw as base substrate with different leaves. The experiment’s objective was to evaluate the effect of cultivation, substrates viz., wheat straw, bamboo, jamun, beal, drumstick, maize and banana leaves respectively, for the growth and yield of Pleurotus florida (Oyster Mushroom) on different combinations of substrate. The Experiment was conducted during July 2021 in a Completely Randomized Block Design (CRD) with five replications and seven treatments. Spawn running, appearance of pinhead and formation of mature fruiting body took less time i.e. 16 days, 18 days and 20 days respectively on T₆ (Wheat straw + Maize leaves) in comparision to other treatments. Width of pilus and length of stipe showed significant increase i.e. 9.46 cm and 7.67cm respectively, were recorded on T₅ (Wheat straw + Banana leaves). Significant yield i.e. 469.87 gram was recorded on T₅ (Wheat straw + Banana leaves). Wheat straw substrate with banana leaves were proven to be the best economical substrate with B:C of 1.73.

Assessing the Impact of Co-fertilization of Silicon with Macronutrient Fertilizers on Yield, Nutrient Uptake, use Efficiency and Grain Quality of Rice in Sandy Clay Loam Soil

V. Arthi — 2023-03-16

This study wanted to clarify the impact of silicon (Si) fertilization on nutrient uptake, silicon use efficiency, yield and quality of rice and to detect the rate and mode of application of Si fertilizer in silicon deficient soil. The field experiment was conducted with ten treatment combinationsof100% NPK,100% NPK + potassium silicate (PS)@ 0.25%,0.50% and 1.0% Foliar spray (FS) at tillering stage,100% NPK + PS@ 0.25% ,0.50% and 1.0%FS at tillering and panicle initiation stages,100% NPK + PS@ 50,100 and 150 kg Si ha^-1soil application (SA). Application of 50 kg Si ha^-1 through PS recorded the highest grain (6183 kg ha^-1) and straw (6740 kg ha^-1) yield, and higher uptake of macronutrients (NP&K) in rice and it was on par with foliar spray of 1% Si sprayed at tillering stage. Silicon uptake increased linearly with Si levels and the maximum uptake was recorded with 150 kg Si ha^-1 and foliar spray at 1% Si. Foliar spray recorded higher Si use efficiency compared to soil application. Rice grain quality viz., protein, amylose and carbohydrate were significantly influenced by silicon addition. The results proved that both foliar and soil application of Si through potassium silicate in sandy clay loam soil could enhance the rice yield, nutrient uptake and grain quality by means of improving nutrient use efficiency.

Effect of Organic manure and Iron on Growth and Fodder Yield of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.)

Koleti Sravani — 2023-03-17

A field experiment was conducted during Zaid 2022 at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, SHUATS, Prayagraj (U.P), India, to study the Effect of organic manure and iron on growth and fodder yield of sorghum. The treatments consisted of 3 levels of organic manure (FYM 8 t ha^-1, Vermicompost 5 t ha^-1, Neem cake 250 kg ha^-1) and three levels of Iron (0.3,0.5 and 1.0%) as foliar spray. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with ten treatments each replicated thrice. The first harvest is taken at 60 days after sowing and second harvest was taken at 45 days after the first harvest. The results showed significantly higher in growth and yield attributes Viz. plant height at first cut (193.4cm) and second cut (154.7cm), plant dry weight at first cut (50.2gm) and second cut (25.0gm), Maximum Green fodder yield (80.6t ha^-1) was found in treatment (T₉) with the application of 250 kg ha^-1 Neem cake + 1.0% FeSO4.

Spatial Variability in Soil Properties, Delineation Site-specific Management Division Based on Soil Fertility Using Fuzzy Clustering in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

T. C. Yadav — 2023-03-17

Farmers who want to improve nitrogen usage efficiency (NUE) and crop yield must have access to information regarding the geographical variability and distribution of soil parameters. Fertilizer application relying on soil characteristic maps and fertilizers recommendations may help reduce fertilizer input without sacrificing crop production. The current research focused heavily on evaluating the variability of soil fertility status in the Madhya Pradesh Gwalior region using geostatistical techniques. To do this, 150 GPS-based surfaces (0–15 cm) soil samples were obtained from the Gwalior region's five districts (Gwalior, Shivpuri, Datia, Guna, & Ashok Nagar) during crop harvest during the rabi season of 2019–20. Statistics and geo-statistics were used to analyze the results of the laboratory analysis. The analysis revealed that the soil samples' pH, EC, SOC, and CaCO₃ values, respectively, varied from 4.40 to 8.30, 0.09 to 1.03 dSm^-1, 2.0 to 10.60 gkg^-1, and 3.0 to 24.0 gkg^-1. In contrast, the amounts of N, P, K, and S that are present in soil vary from 102.0 to 356.0 kg ha^-1, 6.0 to 61.0 kg ha^-1, 114.0 to 896.0 kg ha^-1, and 5.90 to 49.20 mg kg^-1, respectively.

Through building semi-variograms and mapping the data utilizing standard kriging techniques, the information was studied using both traditional statistics and geostatistics. For soil properties, semi-variograms were created, and their geographical distributions were delineated. The Nugget/Sill (Co/Co+ C) ratio for the modeled variables revealed moderate to high spatial dependences. The best-fit models for the reported soil characteristics were exponential, spherical, and circular. The findings of this research demonstrated that soil fertility quality varied significantly across the Gwalior area. This knowledge may aid in making choices about crop succession and the usage of plant nutrients to increase farmers' financial returns.

Study of Physico-chemical and Nutrient Status of the Soil in Chiraigaon Block, Varanasi District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Anand Kumar Diwakar — 2023-03-17

A study was conducted to evaluate the soil fertility and their quality parameters of Chiraigaon Block of Varanasi district Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) which is located at Latitude 25.3°N, and Longitude is 82.9°E and at elevation of 81m above mean sea level (AMSL) in the centre of Gangatic plain of Northern India. A total of 54 soil samples were collected from the farmland of six different villages of Chiraigaon Block. Physico-chemical property analyses showed average bulk density and particle density of 1.22 and 2.37 mg/m³respectively whereas water holding capacity ranged from 29.80 to 51.70 %, pH ranged from 7.1 to 8.3, EC ranged from 0.18 to 1.68 dSm^-1 and organic carbon content ranged from 0.21 to 0.76 % with low organic carbon content in 70.37% of the soil samples. Macronutrient analysis showed low to medium range for nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur with average values of 244.15 Kg/ha, 14.78 kg/ha and 10.60 mg/kg respectively whereas medium to high range of potassium (481.7 kg/ha) and high range of exchangeable calcium (11.82 mEq/100g) and magnesium (9.89 mEq/100g) were found. Micro-nutrient analysis showed low to high range for manganese and zinc with values ranging from 3.08 to 56.1 mg/kg and 0.58 to 19.62 mg/kg respectively, with iron in the medium to high range (5.1 to 72 mg/kg) while available copper (2.2 to 4.08 mg/kg) was in the high range in the tested samples. The current study is expected to help the farmers of the study location in providing guidelines required for long-term soil fertility management and to improve soil quality and for developing suitable crop varieties that can grow without any yield reduction.

Fungal and Bacterial Contaminants Associated with the Spoilage of Mushroom Spawn

Prerna Bhargav — 2023-03-17

Contamination has been a major problem associated with spawn of mushroom. In this study, the contaminating microorganisms in the spawn were isolated, identified and described. Results indicated that majority of microorganisms causing spawn contamination were mainly fungal pathogens; a very low percentage of bacterial contamination was observed. The fungal species causing contamination were Fusarium chlamydosporum, Phoma exigua, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus fumigatus and Fusarium pallidoroseum. Only one bacterial contaminant i.e. Bacillus sp. was reported under study. Aspergillus fumigatus was the major fungal contaminant and Bacillus sp. was the only bacterial contaminant isolated from spawn incubation room environment, whereas from spawn inoculation room contaminants isolated wereFusarium pallidoroseum and Staphylococcus sp.

Validating Protocol and Deciphering the Nanoparticulate Seed Treatment in Enhancing Seed Quality of Soybean, Pigeon Pea and Groundnut

Rame Gowda — 2023-03-18

Silicon nanoparticles have attracted huge interest as a rapidly growing class of materials for many agricultural applications. It provided new insight of the potential growth promoting effects of the nanoparticle (SiO₂) on plant system. Looking in to its importance, a comprehensive study was conducted to standardize the protocol on method of seed treatment with Silicon dioxide (SiO₂) nanoparticle for enhancing seed quality in soybean, groundnut and pigeon pea. Among the treatment combinations, soybean, groundnut and pigeon pea seeds treated with SiO₂ nanoparticle in powder form along with polymer found to be superior for all the tested seed quality parameters viz., germination (95.00, 95.33 and 94.67%), seedling length (39.60, 35.14, 25.56cm), mean seedling dry weight (45.53, 28.33 and 50.47mg/seedling), seedling vigour index-I (3763, 3348 and 2421), seedling vigour index-II (4332, 2700 and 4780) for soybean, pigeon pea and groundnut, respectively. However, compared to untreated control, these seed quality attributes were statistically on par with CMC+NP treatment. These findings suggested that seed treatment with SiO₂nanoparticle in powder form along with polymer coating significantly enhanced seed quality of soybean, groundnut, and pigeon pea.

Effect of Boron and Zinc on Growth and Yield Attributes in Early Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.)

Mahesh Kumar — 2023-03-18

The present experiment was carried out in cauliflower to study the effect of boron and zinc on growth and yield in the early cauliflower having combinations of four levels 0, 1, 2, 3 kg ha-1 of boron and four levels 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 kg ha-1 of zinc in a factorial randomized block design with three replications during the year 2016 and 2017 respectively. The results of the experiment with applied boron and zinc had significant effect on growth and yield of cauliflower. The highest curd depth (8.88 cm) and curd equatorial diameter (16.45 cm) was found with applied boron (2 kg ha-¹) and zinc (2.5 kg ha-¹) respectively. While as, maximum net curd weight (410g) and marketable curd weight (695g) was found with sprayed boron and zinc (1 kg ha-¹ + 2.5 kg ha-¹) respectively., Maximum harvest index (62.8 %) and yield (113.89 q ha-1) was found when applied with boron (2 kg ha-¹) and (2 kg ha-¹+ 2.5 kg ha-¹) respectively. Maximum curd compactness (34.34) and dry matter compactness (14.48) were found with the application of boron (1 kg ha-¹) and zinc (2 kg ha-¹+2.5 kg ha-¹) respectively. Overall findings indicated that with the increase in concentration of boron and zinc the vegetative growth and the reproductive stage of cauliflower increases respectively.

Screening of NCLB Disease and QTLs Mapping in Zea mays

R. P. Srivastava — 2023-03-20

Northern Corn Leaf Blight (NCLB) is a foliar disease, caused by a fungal pathogen (Setosphaeria turcica) that damages maize crop due to heavy losses in every year. A study was conducted for NCLB and identified quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in maize. Mapping population F_2:3 families was developed involving two inbreds viz CM 212 (susceptible) & CM 145 (resistant).The F_2:3families mapping population was evaluated in two environments (BHU, Varanasi and Nagenahalli, Mandya) for resistance to NCLB. In the polymorphic survey about 360 pairs of simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer used between two parents (CM 212 & CM 145)and identified 54 polymorphic markers. Data was recorded for disease severity traits viz Percent Disease Index (PDI), Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) based on PDI, Lesion Area, AUDPC based on lesion area in QTL Mapping. The QTLs were identified interestingly, on 4^th chromosome viz: 4.03/4.05, 4.08/4.1, 4/4.07 and 4.08/4.1 from observed disease severity in both environments. The initially two QTLs (QTL-1 & QTL-2) detected with trait Percent Disease Index and other two (QTL 3 & QTL 4) detected with AUDPC based on PDI.

Effects of Liming on Acid Ferrasols for Sustainable Crop Production in Uganda – A Review

W. S. Kollie — 2023-03-18

Ferralsols are the predominant soil type covering about 70% of the total land area of Uganda; they are mostly found in the Central and Western regions of the country. Ferralsols are highly weathered, acidic and have inherently low nutrient reserves. Degradation of these soils has led to reduced agricultural production and productivity. Despite the increased human population and the importance of Agriculture to the majority of the households in Uganda, little or no research has been carried out on Acid Ferralsols to improve food security and sustain livelihoods. Besides, the country’s research programs have not prioritized the use and management of soil fertility management strategies such as liming. Crop yields on these soils are often far less than those on research stations. This review paper focuses on the extent and effects, causes, challenges and opportunities associated with liming Acid Ferralsols and the effects on soil properties and crop yield. Many studies have shown that detrimental effects of acid soils can be ameliorated through liming, thus improving on the physio-chemical properties to improve crop production and yield. More research is anticipated to develop lime requirements for acid Ferralsols so as to meet the growing food demand in Uganda.

Effect of Different Doses of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on Growth of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) cv. Arka Anamika

Rohit Kumar Bagadi — 2023-03-16

Background: A field experiment was conducted to know the effect of different doses of nitrogen and phosphorus on growth of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) cv. Arka anamika was carried out at Horticultural Farm of Palli-Siksha Bhavana (Institute of Agriculture), Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal during 2020. The experiment was laid out in a RCBD (Randomized complete block design) consisting of twelve treatments with 3 replications. Treatments included were four levels of nitrogen (0, 100, 120 and 140 kg N/ha) and three levels of phosphorus (0, 80 and 100 kg P/ha). The statistical analysis indicated that growth was significantly influenced with application of nitrogen and phosphorus. The characters plant height, number of branches per plant, first flowering, fifty percent of flowering, fruit length, fruit diameter exhibited best results with the treatment N3P2 (140 kg N ha + 100 kg P ha). Present investigation, therefore, indicated better response of the plants towardsapplication of 140 kg/ha nitrogen and 100 kg/ha phosphorus which was found to be most remunerative with regard to their growth of okra.