International Journal of Plant & Soil Science

Land use is characterized by the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover type to produce, change or maintain it. Changes in land use cover also have a drastic effect on chemical and biological properties of soil and hence change the quality of the soil. A study was conducted to examine the effect of land use types on soil physical and chemical properties within an Alfisol in the arboretum of Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN). Soil samples were collected at two soil depths (0-15cm and 15-30 cm soil depths) under these plantations: Nauclea diderrichii (NP), Gmelina arborea (GP), Terminalia superba (TP), Arable crop land (AC) and a Fallowed Land (FL) and were analysed for some selected soil physical and chemical properties. The experiment was a completely randomize design (CRD) with six replications. Data collected was subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and means were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT). Results revealed that higher content of clay was recorded in 0 to 15 cm depth of both GP (15.00%) and FL (15.00%) plantation lands whereas higher clay content was recorded at 15 to 30 cm depth in Arable crop land (23.00%) and Nauclea plantation land (21.00%). Higher total nitrogen (TN) was observed in FL (1.44%)  while  TN availability decreases in the order AC>GP>NP>TP. Higher values of soil Organic Carbon (16.74%), Available phosphorus (2.15 Cmol/kg)  and Organic matter (28.86%) were obtained under FL as compared to the other land use fields at 0 to 15 cm depth. Bulk density and porosity were highly variable among different land use types and ranged from (1.039 ^- 1.415) g cm−3 and (17.99 - 48.87)%. The information generated from the present study suggested fallowed land use as the best land use system because of its higher soil organic matter management, as it improves the soil structure and this will assist in developing sustainable and ecologically stable land use management strategies for the study area.

The present study was aimed at standardizing fertilizer and lime requirement for tissue banana (Grand Naine) cultivation in acidic soil of mid hill of Arunachal Pradesh The experiment was conducted at ICAR RC farm Gori, ICAR RC for NEH Region, AP centre, Basar. The effect of twelve different treatments of combination of fertilizers and Lime was studied on growth parameters of banana plant, post harvest fruit quality parameters and on the soil chemical and physical parameter their availability & uptake of major nutrients were also studied. The results revealed. Plant growth parameters like pseudo stem circumference (36.96 cm) and Plant height (92.85 cm) was highest in the treatment receiving L1F2. Similarly, treatment L2F2 recorded highest number of leaves (5.96), suckers (1.41) and leaf area (3586 cm²). Treatment L2F1 recorded lowest stem circumference (22.3 cm), number of leaves (3.52) and leaf area (1420 cm²). Similarly, treatment having L3F1 recorded lowest number of suckers (0.41). The plants treated with (50% lime + 100% RDF) performed best in terms of both yield and quality attributes. The effects of lime application significantly improve pH of soil that resulted in the improved the availability of phosphorous. Application of 125% fertilizer was not found to significantly enhance the yield of Banana. The lime application significantly improve the soil nutrient concentration Viz  Available N, P K, Ca pH and reduced Al concentration that resulted into enhance banana production compare to the control.

Aim: To evaluate the impact of saline irrigation water on yield, quality and economics of various rice varieties under different agronomic management options.

Study Design: The experiment was laid out in strip-plot design with three replications.

Place and Duration of Study: At College Farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, during kharif, 2018.

Methodology: After the preliminary layout, local variety of dhaincha was broadcasted in the experimental site with seed rate of 40 kg ha^-1 and incorporated during initiation of flowering in the respective treatment plots. Farm Yard Manure (FYM) (10 t ha^-1) was applied and thoroughly mixed with the soil. Four rice varieties RNR-15048, KNM-118, JGL11118 and CSR-36 were were choosen because of its popularity in Telangana and raised well in advance and transplanted in respective treatments.

Results: The highest grain and straw yield was recorded by CSR 36 followed by (fb) RNR 15048 in combination with GM (In situ green manuring), Among the varieties, the highest amylose content was registered by JGL 11118 (24.16%) followed by RNR 15048 (21.9%). The highest L/B ratio was recorded by RNR 15048 (3.33) which was significantly higher than CSR 36 (3.20) and JGL 11118 (3.13). The highest head rice recovery was observed in CSR 36 which was on par with RNR 15048. In situ green manuring in RNR 15048 variety of Telangana received higher income. Under control treatment only the recommended dose of fertilizers (120:60:40 kg ha^-1) was applied.

Conclusion: GM should therefore be done under saline water irrigation in registering superior yield, quality and economics in RNR 15048 in the district of Telangana.

This work aims to maximize the utilization of sugar cane cultivation and manufacture waste in Aswan Governorate, Egypt and turn it into biochar, which can be used to clean the environment from dangerous metals. Sugarcane organic wastes (filter cake, bagasse and sphere) biochars as waste bio-adsorbent materials were obtained using the pyrolysis at 350 and 700°C and 90 min residence time under limited oxygen conditions. Two batch trails were conducted to study the effects of biochar pH and shaking time on the adsorption of Pb ion from solution in precedence of soil and biochar. Models to study the kinetics of the adsorption process as pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were used.The results showed that the absorbed or precipitated (at high suspension pH) amount of Pb decreased in the order: soil treated with biochar bagasse pyrolysis at 350°C (BB350) > soil treated with biochar sphere pyrolysis at 350°C (SB350) > soil treated with biochar filter cake pyrolysis at 350°C (FB350) > soil only. At pH 9 maximum amounts of Pb of 1.794, 1.706 and 1.688 mg/g were adsorbed or precipitated on the soil treated with BB350, SB350 and FB350 respectively. However, Pb was maximum adsorbed or precipitated (1.33 mg/g) on the soil only at pH 8. The highest removal efficiency of Pb²⁺ from the solution was85% with treated the soil with SB350 while the lowest one was 55.5% occurred with the soil that was not treated with biochar at a shaking time of 80 minutes. The adsorption of Pb²⁺ by the soil in presence or absence biochars different fitted the pseudo second order kinetic model for all tested treatments (R² ranged from 0.9901 for the soil treated with BB350 to 0.9994 for that treated with SB350).

Aims:   To study the effect of lignite humin (LH) and poultry manure humin (PMH) application on economics of hybrid maize production in an acid soil of eastern dry zone of Karnataka.

Study Design: Randomized complete block design (RCBD) comprising ten treatments and three replications.

Place and Duration of Study: Krishi Vigyana Kendra, Hadonahalli, Bengaluru rural district (Karnataka) during kharif 2018.

Methodology: A field experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with ten treatments, replicated thrice during kharif 2018 at Krishi Vigyana Kendra, Hadonahalli, Bengaluru rural district, Karnataka. The Lignite Humin (LH) and Poultry Manure Humin (PH) were applied at different doses (0, 2.5, 7.5 & 10 t ha^-1) in combination with FYM (Farm Yard Manure) applied in such a way that the total quantity of humin and FYM is equivalent to 10 t ha^-1.

Results: The results revealed that significant variation was observed on yield and benefit: Cost ratio due to application of Farm Yard Manure (FYM), LH and PMH. Significantly higher maize kernel (8070 kg ha^-1) and stover yield (9948 kg ha^-1) were recorded in treatment T₂ (100% RDF + FYM @ 10 t ha^-1) and which was found on par with treatment T₇ (100% RDF + PMH @ 2.5 t ha^-1 + FYM @ 7.5 t ha^-1) and T₃ (100% RDF + LH @ 2.5 t ha^-1 + FYM @ 7.5 t ha^-1) and T₈ (100% RDF + PMH @ 5 t ha^-1 + FYM @ 5 t ha^-1). Wherein, higher B:C ratio of 2.24 was recorded in treatment T₁₀ receiving 100% RDF + PMH @ 10 t ha^-1and it was followed by treatment receiving T₂(2.21) and T₉ : 100% RDF + PMH @ 7.5 t ha^-1 + FYM @ 2.5 t ha^-1 (2.20). Whereas the least B:C ratio (1.72) was observed in the absolute control treatment where no manures and fertilizers were given.

Conclusion: These results suggest that higher B:C ratio in these treatments might be due to lower cost of cultivation and it increases with increased in dose of lignite and poultry manure based humin.

Field experiment was conducted to investigate the response of soil physical properties, crop growth, yield and yield components of watermelon to different tillage methods in the transitional zone of Ghana in a two year period. The tillage treatments used in the study were plough and harrowed (PH), minimum tillage (MT) and no tillage (NT) which was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block design (RCBD) with 3 three replications. The two field experiments were undertaken at the experimental site of the University of Education, College of Agriculture, Mampong-Ashanti, (7°08‘ N, 1°24‘ W )located within the transitional agro-ecological zone between the forest and Guinea Savannah zones characterized with two rainfall regimes with an annual rainfall of 1094.2 mm with 30°C temperature. The soil belongs to the Bediase series with ochrosol type formed from voltain sandstone and a pH between 5.5 to 6. The statistical analysis revealed that, tillage methods significantly affected soil physical properties particularly, total porosity, volumetric water content and bulk density. Also, tillage methods influenced crop growth, (number of leaves and vine length), yield and yield components of watermelon in the order of Plough and harrowed > Minimum tillage > No-Tillage in almost all the treatments.  Accordingly, the ploughed and harrowed (PH) was found to be more appropriate and profitable tillage method to improving  soil physical properties, crop growth, yield and yield components of watermelon in the forest-transitional of Ghana.

Soil quality in an agroecosytem is considerably influenced by land use and management practices. Twenty two potential soil quality indicators were used to assess the effects of five different land use types (arable land, plantation, agroforestry, marginal land and native forest) on soil quality in Akufo and Atan farm settlements in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. A total of sixty-two fields were selected from which soil samples were taken at a depth of 0-15 cm and subjected to laboratory analysis. Majority of the evaluated physicochemical properties varied significantly among the land uses and whereas native land performed relatively better for most of the observed attributes, arable and marginal lands performed worse. Due to the moderate to strong significant correlation among the potential indicators, they were subjected to principal component analysis and only seven indicators were selected to compute the soil quality index (SQI). In both Akufo and Atan, native land had the highest SQI (0.8250 and 0.860 respectively) which was significantly different (P = .05) from all the agricultural land uses, except plantation (0.739 and 0.750 respectively). Whereas marginal field in Atan was most degraded (SQI = 0.455), it was closely followed by arable fields in both locations. This study indicates that the current agricultural land use and soil management practices in Akufo and Atan farm settlements have negatively impacted soil quality; however, the degree of degradation was strongly influenced by the concentration of soil organic carbon in the understudied land use systems. It also emphasizes the need to promote the use of sustainable management practices among agricultural land users, so as to increase soil organic carbon stock, and improve soil quality and land productivity.

Among the different mechanism of male sterility operated in the Brassica group crop. Cytoplasmic male sterility mechanism is most suitable for hybrid development in cauliflower because here the curd (intermediate stage) is an edible part of the cauliflower. Further, there is no requirement of restorer line in this case as required in other seed crop. For the multiplication and maintenance of the different lines (A line and B line), sib mating and selfing is not always desirable. In fact, in such situation doubled haploid production through microspore culture is a more appropriate mechanism. Apart from this, the undesirable effect of integration of male sterile cytoplasm can be mitigated by adopting the repeated back crossing, through chloroplast substitution or somatic hybridization mechanism.

Organic farming is a sustainable agriculture production system is being followed from ancient times in India. The natural resource management and biodiversity conservation is a core principle of organic agriculture. During post independence, the most important challenge in country has been to produce enough food grain for the growing population. Hence, high-yielding production system contributing to concerns of soil health, agrosphere, environmental pollution, chemical fertilizers, agrochemicals and sustainability of agricultural production. This process involves the use of biological wastes (crop, animal and farm wastes, aquatic wastes), biological materials, avoiding synthetic substances to maintain soil fertility and ecological balance thereby minimizing environmental pollution. Organic farming is a farming system that involves growing and nurturing crops without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Also, no genetically modified organisms are permitted. The primary aim of organic farming is to keep the soil alive in good health through the use of biological wastes and other biological materials along with beneficial microbes to release macronutrients and micronutrients to crops for increased sustainable production in an eco friendly pollution free environment. Organic farming provides quality food is beneficial to human health and practice keeps the environmental friendly. The production of these organic crops is reviewed with regard to sustainable agriculture in Chhattisgarh.

In Africa, cereals are major staple foods for the majority of the population. The cereal crop is not immune to the problem of salinity, which could threaten 10% of its world harvest. This work was undertaken to study the comparative effect of salinity on germination of three cereals, maize (Zea mays), millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and rice (Oriza sativa). The seeds were germinated in Petri dishes containing a range of NaCl solution (0 g/l, 5 g/l, 10 g/l, 15 g/l and 25 g/l) in the dark and at room temperature. The harmful effect of salt varies depending on the concentration of NaCl and the type of cereal. It is low on the germination rate of seeds up to a concentration of 10 g/l NaCl. From this dose onwards, this rate is reduced by 44% for millet, 20% for rice and 10% for maize. The average germination time between 0 g/l and 10 g/l NaCl is low and increases strongly between 10 g/l and 15 g/l and reaches 37 days (millet) and 20 days (rice). Corn root growth is less affected by salinity (1.2 cm) at 15 g/l NaCl compared to more sensitive rice and millet (0 cm). The height of the epicotyl between 0 g/l and 25 g/l NaCl increased from 11.8 to 3.6 cm (corn), from 0.5 to 0 cm (rice) and from 4.3 to 0.3 cm (millet). The combination of the parameters studied shows that all three cereals are able to tolerate NaCl concentrations of 10 g/l. Rice is the most sensitive to salinity while maize is more tolerant than millet.