Influence of Different Nutrient Management Approaches on Soil Biological Properties under Maize Based Cropping System in Vertisol

An experiment was conducted at Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Hiriyur with four different nutrient management approaches during 3 consecutive years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. The experiment consists of 4 treatments, viz., T1 – Natural farming - Seed treatment with Beejamrutha + Ghana jeevamrutha @ 1000 kg ha-1 before sowing + Jeevamrutha @ 200 L ha-1 @ 15 days interval + mulching at 30 DAS; T2 – Organic farming - Seed treatment with Rhizobium + PSB + N equivalent basis of vermicompost; T3 – Package of Practice – Recommended dose of N, P2O5, K2O and FYM; T4 – Farmers practice - FYM @ 7 t ha-1 and 45: 115 kg ha-1 N, P2O5, respectively in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 5 replications. The results revealed that the application of organic manures such as vermicompost and FYM and concoctions like jeevamrutha and ghanajeevamruta for 3 years has improved soil biological properties in both seasons. Treatments varied significantly among different nutrient management approaches with respect to dehydrogenase, urease, phosphatase and arylsulfatase activity in the rhizosphere soil of the summer and kharif maize. Significantly higher enzyme activities were noticed in organic farming treatment followed by package of practice and natural farming treatment. The lowest activities were observed in farmers practice treatment. Similarly, microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur were highest in organic farming treatment and lowest in farmers practice treatment.