Soil Fertility, Nutrient Uptake and Yield of Bell Pepper as Influenced by Conjoint Application of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers

ABSTRACT

A two-year experiment (2014 and 2015) was conducted to investigate the conjoint effect of organic manures, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), and inorganic fertilizers on soil fertility, nutrient uptake, plant biomass, and fruit yield of bell pepper. The experiment was conducted during kharif season on sandy loam soils of mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh. Treatment T6 [application of 75% N + remaining 25% N through vermicompost (VC) + poultry manure (PM) + full quantity farm yard manure (FYM), P and K + PGPR] resulted greatest available N (396.29 kg ha⁻¹), K (484.65 kg ha⁻¹), Zn (0.63 mg kg⁻¹), Fe (4.14 mg kg⁻¹), and Mn (3.19 mg kg⁻¹) in soil along with more uptake of N (133.34 kg ha⁻¹), P (32.57 kg ha⁻¹), and Cu (76.32 g ha⁻¹) by the plants. Further, the treatment T₄ produced similar effect and obtained greatest values for characters like yield (420.37 kg ha⁻¹), organic C in soil (2.09%), available P (42.07 kg ha⁻¹), and Cu (0.73 mg kg⁻¹) in soil as well as uptake of K (73.31 kg ha⁻¹), Zn (123.39 g ha⁻¹), Fe (321.36 g ha⁻¹), and Mn (103.52 g ha⁻¹) by the plants. Results of this study suggested that integrated use of organic manures, i.e. FYM, VC, and PM up to 25–50% with inorganic fertilizers is beneficial for improving soil health, nutrient uptake as well as for sustainable bell pepper production.

KEYWORDS:

• Organic manures
• vermicompost
• poultry manures
• plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria

Acknowledgments

Author are grateful to DST (Department of Science and Technology) for providing financial help in the form of INSPIRE fellowship.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology Govt of India INSPIRE FELLOWSHIP [IF 130249].