Soil quality as affected by resource conserving technologies in rice-green gram cropping system in eastern India

For studying the potential of resource conservation technologies (RCT) for improvement in soil quality, a study was undertaken with five RCT and two conventional practices on rice (Oryza sativa L.) (wet season) - green gram (Vigna radiata L.) (dry season) cropping system at the research farm of ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha, India during 2018-19. The treatments included were green manuring, residue incorporation, zero tillage transplanting, mechanical transplanting, and mechanical transplanting with real time nitrogen (N) management, and two conventional practices including one with no N (control) and other with 100% recommended dose of N fertilizer. Soil quality was determined for different treatments according to a unified soil quality index by analyzing different physicochemical and biological parameters of soil. The identified key sensitive pointers of soil quality in this investigation were: DTPA-Zn, alkaline phosphatase activity, pH, bulk density and clay dispersion index. Zero tillage (2.34), followed by green manuring (2.26) treatment recorded the highest soil quality index. Therefore, zero tillage and green manuring practices should be followed for improvement of soil quality and pH, bulk density, DTPA-Zn, alkaline phosphatase activity and clay dispersion index should be assessed for indication of soil quality.