Remediation of soil past erosion effects through amendments and agronomic practices (original) (raw)

2014, Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka

In Pakistan there has been a trend to shift agriculture towards steep lands, where soil erosion is one of the most significant ecological restrictions to sustainable agricultural production. This study was focused to find ways to ameliorate the soil fertility degraded by past soil erosion. Different cropping patterns viz maize-wheat-maize rotation (C1), maize-lentil-maize rotation (C2) and maize-wheat+lentil intercrop-maize rotation (C3) and different soil treatments, namely, the control (T1), 50 % NP (also called the farmer's practice) (T2), 100 % NPK or the recommended dose of NPK (T3) and 20 t ha-1 farmyard manure integrated with 50 % N and 100 % PK (T4) were tested in a randomized complete block (RCB) design with split plot arrangements. Integrated use of organic manure (farmyard manure) and inorganic NPK fertilizers (T4) produced the highest wheat grain yield (4730 kg ha-1), which was 9 % higher than the % inorganic NPK (T3, 4349 kg ha-1) and more than twice the control (T1, 2072 kg ha-1). The increase in lentil grain yield in T4 (1112 kg ha-1) was 7.4 % higher than in the recommended NPK levels for lentils (T3, 1035 kg ha-1) and 79 % higher than the control. A significant nutrient enrichment and an improvement in soil fertility parameters was recorded by T4 over T3. This was further augmented by the application of cereal-legume rotation (C2) in the traditional cereal-cereal rotation (C1) and their combination showed a significantly improved residual effect on soil fertility in the subsequent year. In conclusion the degraded soil fertility of Missa gullied soil cannot be ameliorated to its full potential with only the recommended dose of mineral fertilizers. 50 % N from organic fertilizer sources and the inclusion of legumes in the crop rotation is necessary to ensure agricultural sustainability on such soils.

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