Effect of Different Establishment Methods and Nutrient Sources on Crop Productivity Water footprint and Soil health of Rice in Inceptisols under Rice-Wheat Cropping System

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L) is the major food crop in the world. Nearly 40% of the world population consumes rice as the major staple food. Most of the people, who depend on rice as primary food, live in the less developed countries. Archaeological evidence on rice in India dates back to 1500- 1000 B.C. On account of continuing world energy crisis, spiralling prices of chemical fertilizers and environmental concerns, use of organic sources of plant nutrients, being renewable, is gaining attention. Therefore, an investigation entitled “Effect of different establishment methods and nutrient sources on crop productivity, water foot print and soil health of rice (Oryza sativa L) in Inceptisols under ricewheat cropping system” was conducted to sustain growth in productivity and soil health through novel sources of nutrients and their modes of applications on variety PB-1509 . The treatments comprised of two crop establishment methods i.e., E1-Conventional puddled transplanted rice (CT- TPR), E2- Wide bed Transplanted rice (W Bed-TPR) and Nine Nutrient sources viz., {N1- Control, N2- 100% RDF + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1, N3- 125% RDN + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1, N4- STCR based NPK application + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1, N5- N2+ FYM (5 t ha-1), N6- N2+ FYM (5 t ha-1) + PSB (5 kg ha-1)+ Azotobactor 20 kg ha-1, N7- 75% RDN + FYM (5 t ha-1) + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1, N8-75% RDN + FYM (5 t ha-1) + PSB (5 kg ha-1) + Azotobactor 20 kg ha-1 + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1, N9- Organics Practices @ FYM (30 t ha- 1)+PSB (5 kg ha-1) + Azotobactor 20 kg ha-1 + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1 respectively} are laid down in Factorial Randomized block design and replicated thrice at crop research centre of SVPUA&T, Meerut (U.P.) during Kharif 2019 & 2020.The experimental soil was sandy loam in texture, moderately alkaline in reaction, non-saline, low in organic carbon content, low in available nitrogen (N- 235.8 & 242.5 kg ha-1), medium in available phosphorous (P2O5 18.6 & 19.8 kg ha-1) and potassium (K2O 210.5 & 215.6 kg ha-1). The experimental plot size was 10 m× 3.0 m. The recommended dose of fertilizer i.e., 150 kg N, 60 kg P2O5 and 40 kg K2O ha-1 was applied. The results of the study revealed that rice growth parameters viz., plant height, tillers m -2 dry matter accumulation increased with transplanted rice on wide raised beds (E2) and conventional transplanted rice after puddling (E1). Among the yield attributes i.e., number of grains per panicle, panicle length (cm), numbers of effective tillers and test weight were increased in transplanted rice on wide raised beds and conventional transplanted rice after puddling plots, respectively. The improvement in the grain yield was about 4.39 % and 4.03 per cent under conventional transplanted puddled rice than wide bed transplanted rice. The highest total water footprint (TWFP) was observed under E1 with the value being 1742.5, 1768.1 m3t-1 whereas; WFs Total of 1380.1, 1338.6 m3t-1 was computed under E2 treatment, during both the year of study. The crop contained 1.37 %N, 0.38% P, and 0.48% K in grain 0.58% N, 0.21% P and 1.71% K in straw. Such crop exhibited agronomic, physiological and apparent recovery efficiency of NPK of the order of 3.2 kg kg-1 of nutrient applied, 14.0 kg kg-1 of nutrient uptake and 0.23% as against recommended NPK. Applications of RDF, FYM, PSB, Azatobactor and Zinc worked synergistically and increased grain yields by 53.4, 51.3, 47.9 and 46.2% over their respective control. Soil organic carbon (0.52 %), available N (243.4 kg ha-1), available P (19.53 kg ha-1), available K (217.92), Particulate organic carbon (POC), Total organic carbon (TOC and Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in soil was also highest with the treatment. The crop required an investment of Rs ha-1 64485 and fetched net return of Rs. 70915 with B: C ratio of 2.14. Thus, the rice crop grown under wide raised beds transplanted technique with 100% RDF + ZnSO4 25 kg ha-1 + FYM (5 t ha-1) + PSB (5 kg ha-1) + Azotobactor 20 kg ha-1 had attained better growth (plant height, dry matter accumulation, LAI, CGR, RGR, yield attributes (effective tillers, grains per panicle, test weight) yield and fetched higher gross and net returns with higher B: C ratio. Significantly improved the nutrient uptake, protein content, soil physico-chemical and biological properties bulk density, aggregate stability, total organic carbon and microbial biomass carbon also indicate a properties trend.