Sustainable yield index (SYI) of a groundnut-maize cropping system as influenced by sources and management of phosphorus on the acid Alfisols

Abstract

To find out the stability index of a groundnut-maize cropping system through different sources and management of phosphorous in acid Alfisols of Odisha state, a field experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with three replications and seven treatments consist of Udaipur phosphate rock (UPR), single super phosphate (SSP) alone or their mixtures with different ratios including phosphorus control from 2013-14 to 2016. The soil has a loam texture, a pH of 5.2, low available nitrogen and medium phosphorus and potassium. The highest sustainable yield index (SYI) of 0.76 was recorded in SSP+ [email protected] (T7) treatment followed by 0.66 in URP+SSP @1:1 mixture (T5). Application of UPR (T2) alone was inferior to SSP and URP+SSP mixtures. Also stability index of URP+SSP mixture either in 3:1 (T4) or 1:3 (T6) were less than the T3, T5 and T7 treatments. However, in UPR+SSP (1:1) mixture, SYI values of 0.75, 0.71 and 0.66 were recorded for groundnut, maize and groundnut-maize cropping system, respectively indicating relatively a higher value of yield stability index than the other UPR+SSP mixtures and sole SSP treatments.