Efficacy of organic and inorganic fertilizer on soil properties, growth and yield attributes of wheat crop

Abstract

The application of different fertilizer dosage may impact the soil physical and chemical properties along with the efficiency of the plants. A field experiment was conducted during the Rabi season of 2018-19 at the research farm of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara (Punjab). Experiment was conducted in order to determine the best combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers for improvement of plant growth and yield parameters as well as improvement of soil physico-chemical properties. The seven treatments were incorporated, i.e., control (T0), T1 (100% Recommended dose of fertilizer), T2 (75% RDF+PSB), T3 (50% RDF), T4 (5 tha-1 vermicompost), T5 (75% RDF+5 tha-1 vermicompost) and T6 (50% RDF+2.5 tha-1 vermicompost). Treatment T1 was observed with 104.33 cm plant height and T5 with 93.50 cm. The grain number per spike of the treatments were calculated at peak values of 45.44, 44.89 and 43.66 in treatments T6, T2 and T5 respectively. Organic carbon percentage, available P were obtained at 0.53% and 16.21 kgha‑1 respectively in mixed organic and inorganic treatment T5. Results showed that treatment T5 showed promising results based on both plant parameters and soil physico-chemical properties whereas treatment T1 showed higher values in plant parameters only.