“…However, application of fertilizers and manures resulted in significant improvement in the buildup of the available N content of subsurface soil. So, it is clear that application of organic manures in conjunction with chemical fertilizers increased the available N in soil is attributed to the increase in total SOC that might have been partially due to a slow release of N from straw and manure as suggested by Yadav et al, (2000), Gami et al, (2001) and Bhandari et al, (2002). Farmyard manure and straw is known to stimulate biological N 2 fixation in the soil, which may also have been responsible for the increase in soil N (Ladha et al, 1989) over NPK treatment, apart from FYM's own N contribution.…”