EFFECTS OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON NUTRIENT STATUS OF SOIL AT MATURITY STAGE OF PADDY UNDER VARIOUS GROWING PRACTICES

Abstract

A field study was conducted during the kharif season of 2018–19 in Parseoni Tahsil of Nagpur district to assess the effect of different organic and inorganic nutrient management practices on the nutrient status of soil at the maturity stage of paddy. Five different paddy-growing practices, namely conventional lowland, organic lowland, INM lowland, conventional upland and INM upland, were evaluated under farmers’ field conditions. Thirty soil samples from 0–20 cm depth were collected randomly at the maturity stage of the paddy crop from selected farmers’ fields. The available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) status of soil was determined under different nutrient management practices. The results showed considerable variation in available N, P and K among the paddy-growing practices. Available N ranged from 162.16 to 221.49 kg ha⁻¹, available P from 18.67 to 36.22 kg ha⁻¹, and available K from 314 to 387 kg ha⁻¹. The highest available N and P were recorded under organic lowland practice (221.49 and 36.22 kg ha⁻¹, respectively), whereas the highest available K was observed under INM lowland practice (387 kg ha⁻¹). The lowest available N was recorded under conventional lowland, while the lowest available P and K were recorded under INM upland and conventional lowland practices, respectively. The differences in available N were significant at the 5% level, whereas available P and K showed non-significant differences. The findings indicate that organic and integrated nutrient management practices can maintain comparatively higher levels of available nutrients in paddy soils.