Effect of different soil amendments on Physico-chemical properties of soil under brinjal-fenugreek cropping sequence

Based on a cropping system, the different soil amendments were used to study its effect on physico-chemical properties of soil. The aim was to explore the effects of different soil amendments on improvement of soil properties and at the same time determine the appropriate application of organic manures and inorganic fertilizers for improved sustainable yields of a cropping system. The study was carried out at the Division of Vegetable Science, SKUAST-Kashmir for two consecutive years without changing the site of experiment. The treatment combinations comprised of thirteen nutrient management practices through different sources viz. organic manures (FYM, poultry manure, vermicompost, sheep manure, dal weed) and inorganic fertilizers (N, P & K), applied alone or in various combinations. After the harvest of last residual crop the soil was analysed for various Physico-chemical properties and it was found that by applying mixture of different organic manures (T6), pH of the soil was lowered significantly as compared to other treatments and recorded a pH of 6.45. Among integration of organic manures with inorganic fertilizers, treatment T9 (50% RFD + 50% PM) recorded a soil pH of 6.59 which was significantly lower than rest of the integrated treatments. The same organic treatment T6 (integration of all organic manures) resulted in improvement of electrical conductivity (EC) and organic carbon (OC) content of the soil recording an EC and OC of 0.33 dsm-1 and 2.98 percent, respectively and was found significantly higher than rest of the treatments. The extent of increase in soil EC and OC due to treatment T6 over initial soil status was 55.45 % and 18.33 % and over treatment T12 (recommended fertilizers dose) was 21.47 % and 15.43 %, respectively. The treatment T12 (RFD) receiving no organic inputs showed least increase in Electrical conductivity and organic carbon content of soil