| Popis: |
Soil quality was assessed from four different treatment plots T1, T2, T3 and T4 of a long-term field experiment at ICRISAT, Patancheru. The four different crop-husbandry systems were: T1 = low-cost system 1, T2 = low-cost system 2, T3 = conventional system and T4 = same as T3+biomass as in T2. The parameters used in the study were nutrient, biological, microbial and crop yield. Treatment plots T1 and T2 showed substantially more nitrogen (15-29%) and phosphorus (17-23%), than that was added to T3, largely as chemical fertilizers. Biomass C and N of treatment plots T1 and T2 was also 22-35% more than T3. The overall results on microbial populations suggested that soil from plots T1 and T2 were more active than that of T3. Application of low-cost biological inputs improved soil health and increased yields of T1 and T2, which was at par or better than T3 and T4 plots, where chemicals were applied. A new approach was used to calculate sustainability index based on the area of a polygon, where the four vertices are represented by nutrient, biological, microbial and crop indices. The sustainability index of treatment plot T2 that received low cost biological inputs was highest (2.29) followed by T4 (2.10), T1 (2.07) and the least was with T3 (1.56). |
