Comparative Studies on the Soil Health Due to Application of Different Manure Combinations

Agriculture is the main occupation in India. Fertilizers are the key inputs in agricultural production and excess uses lead to agricultural pollution. Under these circumstances, India needs a second green revolution based on environmentally safe technology. In the present study, an attempt was made for the comparative study of soil health along with the cultivation of Ring bean in a Randomized block design (RBD) comprising of four treatments with five replications. The combination of W+CF and V+CF has improved the soil health in terms of organic carbon, organic matter, and availability of NPK in soil at different depths. Significant improvement in WHC of soil was observed in the application of H+CF followed by the V+CF options. Combination of organic manure with chemical fertilizer is the better substitute to commercial fertilizers alone. Maximum physical growth of Ring bean plant has been recorded in the chemical fertilizer applied options which are due to the immediate availability of nutrients from the chemical fertilizers. V+CF followed by W+CF shows the improvement in the dry weight of the crop. H+CF followed by V+CF produces more seed yields compared to chemical fertilizer. H+CF and V+CF were found to be good to increase the productivity of yield by 40 % and 30 % over chemical fertilizer. The residual nutrient content in harvested plant was slightly high in the combination of W+CF. The cost benefit analysis has shown higher benefits V+CF and H+CF followed by other manure combinations. In column studies, the fertilizer applied column has recorded higher rate of percolation of nutrient when compared with other manure combinations