As world population grows, the demand for food production increases ultimately creating a huge pressure on our shrinking natural resources. With this increased demand for food researches have realized that conventional farming would neither be able to increase productivity nor would be able to improve the soil quality and there is a need for an alternative farming practice to conserve our environment while sustaining the natural resources. Among the alternative practices, organic farming, which is very popular, aims at reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in order to improve production and ecosystem health. The aim of our paper is to compare the long term effects of conventional and the alternative organic farming practices on soil quality and crop productivity as they are considered to be two major indices that measure agricultural sustainability on long term basis. Therefore, many studies around the world are evaluating the organic farming practices as an alternative was found to be superior in their physical, chemical and biological properties than their conventional counterparts. In addition, the studies showed that the organic farming practices are economically viable in the long term for both crop productivity and environmental sustainability.
Sheoran et al.: Long term effect of farming practices on microbial biomass carbon, enzyme activities and microbial populations in different textured soils -3669 -
The study was carried to determine the mineralogy of soils of different geomorphic units for providing the more detailed information needed to improve agricultural production in north-eastern part of Haryana. The soils of the study area were slightly acidic to strongly alkaline in reaction (6-9.4). The cation exchange capacity and electrical conductivity varied from 3.10-26.80 cmol (+) kg-1 and 0.16-1.20 dSm-1, respectively. In general, the soils were siliceous in nature with SiO2 ranging from 68.60 to 87.90 percent. The soil samples from surface and subsurface diagnostic horizons were studied through X-ray diffraction. In fine sand, quartz was the dominant mineral followed by feldspars, muscovite, hornblende, tourmaline, zircon, biotite, iron ores and sphene. In silt fraction, quartz was the dominant mineral followed by mica, feldspars, chlorite, kaolinite, interstratified and traces of smectite and vermiculite. Semi-quantitative estimation of clay fraction indicated that illite was the single dominant mineral in the clay fraction of these pedons, however, its quantity was less in alluvial plains (28-30 %) compared to Shiwalik hills (36-49 %). Next to illite, a high amount of smectite (14-20 %) and vermiculite (11-17 %) were observed in clays of alluvial plains of Ghaggar (recent and old) whereas in Shiwalik hills (top and valley) these minerals were detected in small amount (6-11 %). Fairly good amount of kaolinite (10-17 %) and small amount of chlorite (4-11 %) were uniformly distributed in soil clays irrespective of geomorphic units showing their detrital origin. Medium intensity broad peaks in higher range diffractograms (14-24 A˚) indicated the presence of regular and irregular interstratified minerals in old alluvial plains of Ghaggar.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.