Crop Yield and Properties of Inceptisol as Influenced by Residue Management under Rice-Wheat Cropping Sequence

A field experiment was carried out during 1990–91 to 1995–96 on an Inceptisol to study the crop yield and soil properties. The results revealed that application of additional dose of N @ 20 kg ha⁻¹ gave significantly higher grain yield as well as uptake of N, P and K by both the crops than application of equal amount of N as conventional method. The values for grain yield and nutrient uptake were at par to integrated application of FYM and chemical fertilizers. Any reduction in recommended dose of chemical fertilizer decreased grain yield and nutrient uptake significantly by both the crops. There was a significant reduction in bulk density with significant improvement in water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity, available N, P and S status of soil with addition of crop residues and FYM. The available K except in FYM treated plots, decreased markedly with slight reduction in pH in all the treatments. The DTPA extractable Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu and microbial population enhanced significantly due to crop residues and FYM as compared to the chemical fertilizers alone.