Impact of nutrients, nitrogen fixers and phosphate solubilizers on microbiological properties of soil and yield in sesamum-pea cropping sequence

Abstract

This study was conducted at the Soil Microbiology section of Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, CSK HPKV, Palampur in pea-sesamum cropping sequence during Rabi, 2008 and kharif, 2009.There were eight treatments with randomized block design (RBD). The soil was silty clay loam in texture, pH 5.2, cation exchange capacity 10.3 c mol (p+) kg-1, organic carbon 9.5 g kg-1, available N and P (267.1 kg ha-1 and 10.2 kg ha-1) during this study. After the harvest of crop, representative soil samples from each plot were taken from the depths of 0-0.15 m and 0.15-0.30 m and were analyzed for microbiological properties of soil. The results revealed that highest total microbial count, microbial biomass carbon, dehydrogenase, phosphatase and urease activity was recorded where organics, inorganic and biofertilizers were applied conjunctively. The yield of pea and sesamum crop were recorded highest where organic sources (FYM), inorganic sources (Half N and P and full K (RDF) and biofertilzers (Nitrogen Fixer (B) + Phosphate Solubilizers) were applied.