Long-term Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Properties of a Typic Haplustept under Maize-Wheat Cropping System

To understand the effect of integrated nutrient management on soil properties, soil samples were drawn from the long-term field experiment (LTFE) in progress since kharif, 1997 on a Typic Haplustept at Instructional Farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur under All India Co-odinated Research Project. The rotation followed was maize-wheat and the treatments included various combinations of N, P, K, Zn, S, Azotobacter and FYM. Results from the study showed that after 9 years of continuous intensive cropping under various fertilizer and manurial treatments, improvement occurred in the status of hydraulic conductivity, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and water stable aggregates. Application of 20 t FYM ha⁻¹ and combined use of NPK and 10 t FYM ha⁻¹ recorded significant differences in the soil properties. However, no marked changes in soil pH over the years were noticed.