Author(s):

Mukta Rani and AK Jha

Abstract: Due to increasing population, industrialization and urbanization, a fundamental shift has been taken place in food production and agricultural research. Today, the drive for productivity is increasingly combined with a desire for sustainability and to be sustainable in the long term, it will be necessary to replenish the reserves of nutrients which are removed or lost from the soil. A field experiment was carried out at vegetable farm of Bihar Agricultural University, sabour, Bhagalpur in sandy loam soil during kharif 2016-17 with kharif onion cv. Agrifound Dark Red using Azolla and vermicompost for sustainable crop production and soil health management. The experiment comprised of 8 treatments viz. T₁ (no K application), T₂ (50 per cent RDK), T₃ (100 per cent RDK), T₄ (50 per cent RDK + 50 per cent K by Azolla), T₅ (50 per cent RDK + 50 per cent K by Vermicompost), T₆ (50 per cent RDK + 25 per cent K by Azolla + 25 per cent K by Vermicompost), T₇ (100 per cent K by Azolla) and T₈ (100 per cent K by Vermicompost). Full dose of N and P were applied in all the treatments through urea and SSP respectively. However, potassium was supplied through muriate of potash (MOP) having 60 per cent K₂O, vermicompost (0.8 per cent potassium) and Azolla (2.62 per cent potassium on dry wt. basis). Results from field experiment showed that the treatment T₅ resulted in the highest bulb yield (13.17 t ha^-1) which was 16.24 and 41.46 per cent higher as compared to that recorded with T₃ and T₁ respectively. The highest uptake of N (58.40 kg ha^-1) was recorded with treatment T₇. However, phosphorus uptake was found to be the highest (12.14 kg ha^-1) with treatment T₈. Treatment T₆ had uptake the highest amount of potassium (65.29 kg ha^-1). The plots which were not treated with potassium showed lowest N, P and K uptake (30.29 kg ha^-1, 5.82 kg ha^-1, 27.46 kg ha^-1 respectively) by onion crops. Treatment T₇ increased the storability by 20.33 per cent over T₃ and 29.76 per cent over control after 60 days of storage. Treatment T₄ showed the highest available N content (287.80 kg ha^-1) in residual soil. Available phosphorus content in residual soil was highest in treatment T₅ (33.46 kg ha^-1). The highest available potassium content (259.27 kg ha^-1) in residual soil was observed in treatment T₄. However, the lowest value (208.08 kg ha^-1) of available K was recorded in control plot. The study indicated that the application of Azolla and vermicompost alone or in combination resulted in higher bulb yield, nutrient uptake and found to be beneficial for improving fertility of the soil.

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