Impact of different Tillage practices on Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Pool in Rice-Wheat Cropping System

Conventional agriculture can result in loss of organic matter (OM), resulting in degradation of cultivated soil. Astudy was conducted to assess the impact of different tillage treatments in rice and wheat cropping system on soil organic carbon and nitrogen pool. The experiment was carried out in split plot design with four main plot treatments viz. P(direct dry seeding by zero till drill), P1 2(direct seeding of sprouted rice in puddle condition), P(hand transplanting) and P(transplanting 34by self-propelled rice trans planter) while the sub plot treatment (for wheat) included T1(conventional sowing), T(bed planting), T(strip till drilling) and T(zero till drilling). Significant 234variations in SOC and soil nitrogen pool were observed in wheat tillage treatments for D(0-10cm) 1soil depth. The Tand Ttreatments had significantly higher values of SOC pool as compared to T. 431Similar trend was also observed for soil nitrogen. Rice tillage treatments did not have any significant impact on SOC and soil nitrogen at Dor subsequent depths. The summarized depths 0-130 and 0-60 cm did not show any impact of the tillage treatments on SOC or soil nitrogen pools.In 33 rice tillage treatments, SOC pool ranged from 26.06 Mg/m(P) to 27.61 Mg/m(P) while the range 4133for wheat tillage treatment was 26.30 Mg/m (T) to 26.75 Mg/m (T). At D depth soil N pool was 411found to be statistically higher for Tand Ttillage treatments in wheat, whereas Ttillage treatment 342was found to be statistically at par with T. This is because of the presence of higher amount of SOM 1in Tand T. Ahigh and positive correlation between SOC and total N was observed because most of 34the nitrogen present in soil is in organic form