Effect of organics, biofertilizers and crop residue application on soil microbial activity in rice – wheat and rice-wheat mungbean cropping systems in the Indo-Gangetic plains

Assessing soil properties and nutrient availability under conservation agriculture practices in a reclaimed sodic soil in cereal-based systems of North-West India

“…Maize due to its higher water use efficiency can be an excellent alternative to PTR in NW India where lowering of ground water level is a grave concern. Mungbean grown in between wheat and rice is beneficial in enhancing the carbon and nitrogen concentration in soil thereby improving the overall soil quality (Singh et al 2015). …”

“…There is an improvement in numerous parameters of soil health (physical, chemical and biological quality) under conservation tillage by increasing carbon and nutrients concentration at the surface soil (Singh et al 2015; Salahin et al 2017). Advantages of zero tillage (ZT) after burning or removal of crop residues in the RWCS were reported in the IGP, particularly in NW India (Erenstein and Laxmi 2008).…”

Short-term Effects of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on Soil Properties and Enzyme Activities in Rice Production

“…The positive effect of judicious use of organic manure and inorganic fertilizers on productivity of crops and soil fertility has been reported by many workers (Baishya et al, 2015;Singh et al, 2015 andKundu et al, 2016) Organic amendments such as recycling of agricultural wastes and application of organic manures have sustained crop production for several years before the introduction of inorganic fertilizers along with the entry of high yielding and fertilizer responsive cultivars that have largely replaced the traditional practices (Ramachandran and Biswas, 2016). However, there are many reports that the yield of crops are either stagnate or declined in recent years due to continuous application of mineral fertilizers alone (Sekhon et al, 2009;Scotti et al, 2015).…”

Functional Diversity of Soil Bacteria from Organic Agro Ecosystem

“…Singh et al, 2015), favoring long term soil fertility (Berger et al, 2013;Bhardwaj et al, 2014), plant tolerance and crop productivity (Bhardwaj et al, 2014), supports and strengthens productive and sustainable soil biological processes (Mader et al, 2002) and emphasizes on soil-building programmes (Abraham, 2011). Applications of biofertilizers and manure compost in organic farming system influences structure and function of soil microbial community (Marschner et al, 2003;Chu et al, 2007;Gu et al, 2009;Zhen et al, 2014;Singh et al, 2015) and the importance of microorganisms in the maintenance of quality and productivity of agricultural soils is unquestionable. (Abraham, 2011; A corollary to high potential of organic farming for sustainable entrepreneurship by small land holders of Indo-Gangetic Plains of Asia-Pacific .…”