Residual effect of crop residues on growth, yield attributes and soil properties of wheat under rice-wheat cropping system

Residual effect of crop residues along with green manure, microbial culture and inorganic fertilizer on yield and soil properties of wheat grown after rice were studied. The following treatments such as control, straw burn (5 t ha⁻¹)_{, straw incorporation (5 t ha⁻¹), straw (5 t ha⁻¹) + 25% N of recommended dose, straw (5 t ha⁻¹) + green manure (5 t ha⁻¹) and straw (5 t ha⁻¹) + microbial culture (a cocktail of Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Pleurotus and Phanerochaete) were imposed on rice and their residual effects on the yield of wheat and nutrients content in soils were evaluated. Results showed that application of straw (5 t ha⁻¹) + green manure (5 t ha⁻¹) recorded the highest yield of wheat followed by the straw (5 t ha⁻¹) + 25%N of recommended dose > straw (5 t ha⁻¹) + microbial culture > straw incorporation (5 t ha⁻¹) > straw burn (5 t ha⁻¹) > control. Availability of soil nutrients particularly N, P, K and organic carbon also increased following the above trend.}