Consequences of Agro-forestry and Rice-Wheat Based Cropping System on Soil Micronutrients Status in Mollisols of Uttarakhand

ABSTRACT

Micronutrient deficiency has become a barrier to soil productivity and sustainability along with fluctuations in soil micronutrient insufficiency that is linked to crops with the low usage efficiency or limited ability to absorb micronutrients in various agricultural ecosystems worldwide. Therefore, a field investigation was conducted during two consecutive years 2016–17 and 2017–18 at two different locations of Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, to assess the distribution of micronutrients under agroforestry (AF) and rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS). Four treatments were taken in an ongoing Long-Term Fertilizer Experiment (LTFE) at Norman E. Borlaug Crop Research Center and two treatments as poplar- and eucalyptus-based AF systems were taken from Agro-Forestry Research Center (AFRC), Pantnagar, and analyzed in randomized block design with four replications. The experiment results revealed that the highest diethelene triamine penta acetic acid (DTPA)-extractable micronutrients (Zn, Fe, Mn, and Cu) and available boron (B) content were observed in 100% NPK + 15 t FYM ha⁻¹ treated plot. While lowest in control plot at both the surface and sub-surface of soil after kharif and rabi season. The poplar- and eucalyptus-based AF system increased the DTPA-extractable Zn by 73.81% and 32.14%, Cu by 27.56% and 9.09%, Fe by 36.33% and 9.77%, and Mn by 15.90% and 3.29%, respectively over 100% NPK under RWCS at the surface of the soil after kharif season.

KEYWORDS:

• Micronutrients
• rice–wheat system
• agroforestry-based cropping system
• boron

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (India) for providing all necessary facilities to carry out this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).