Author(s):

Momin Doley, Shyamal Kumar Phukon, Karishma Borah, Sarat Sekhar Bora and Syed Wasifur Rahman

Abstract: Soil organic matter (SOM) has long been recognized as an important indicator of soil productivity. The SOM refers to the organic fraction of the soil exclusive of undecayed plant and animal residues. It plays a crucial role in maintaining sustainability of cropping systems by improving soil physical (texture, structure, bulk density, and water-holding capacity), chemical (nutrient availability, cation exchange capacity, reduced aluminium toxicity, and allelopathy) and biological (nitrogen mineralization bacteria, dinitrogen fixation, mycorrhizae fungi, and microbial biomass) properties (Fageria N. K. 2012). Green manure crops can increase cropping system sustainability by reducing soil erosion and ameliorating soil physical properties by increasing SOM and fertility levels, by increasing nutrient retention, by helping control weeds and by reducing global warming potential (Cavigelli and Thien, 2003). Application of organic manures in the tea growing soils boost up the soil organic carbon, humic and fulvic acid content in soil in one way, and significantly increase the soil microbial populations, microbial biomass and enzymatic activity (Rajkonwar et al., 2016). Uptake of NPK by rice–rice sequence was higher when 75% recommended NPK dose was applied through chemical fertilizers to both winter and autumn rice along with 25% N through crop stubbles only in case of winter rice. Thus, integrated nutrient management involving organic and inorganic sources not only increases the availability and uptake of major nutrients but also helps in yield sustainability in rice–rice cropping system under long run in acid soils. (Baishya et al., 2015). Among the sources of available organic manures, vermicompost contains a higher percentage of nutrients necessary for plant growth in readily available forms. It increases macropore space resulting in improved air-water relationship in the soil, which favourably affects plant growth. The application of organic fertilizers including vermicompost favourably affects soil pH, microbial population and soil enzyme activities. Vermicompost treatment plots displayed better results with regard to growth and fruit yield of tomato plant as compared to control. (Mukta et al., 2015).

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