Informatics Publishing Limited

Nongmaithem Raju Singh ¹, H. S. Mishra ¹, S. K. Tewari ¹, Sumit Chaturvedi ¹

Affiliations
1 G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar (US Nagar), Uttarakhand, IN

Abstract

An experiment to evaluate the performance of different varieties of soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) under two year poplar based agroforestry system was conducted during kharif season in tarai region of Uttarakhand. Four varieties of soybean viz., PS 1042, PS 1225, PS 1347 and PS 1024 of soybean were grown under poplus, and as sole crop. Germination count/m² and plant height was not significantly influenced by growth conditions. Growing condition significantly influenced primary branches and number of pods per plant of soybean however; grains per pod, pod length per plant and hundred grains weight (g) were insignificant. Among the varieties, all the yield attributes were higher in PS 1225 except hundred grains weight which was higher in PS 1042. Grain and straw yield were found to be higher in open system (sole soybean) as compared to under shade of poplar showing reduction of 3.94 and 9.86 per cent, respectively. Soybean variety PS 1225 recorded highest grain yield (2996 kg/ha) as compared to all other varieties under-storey poplar. However, maximum harvest index was observed in PS 1347 (44.22 %). It can be concluded that soybean crop can be successfully grown under poplar during second year of plantation.

Keywords

Soybean, Varieties, Under-Storey, Poplar Plantation.

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Kumari Shubha ¹, Nongmaithem Raju Singh ¹, Anirban Mukherjee ¹, Aniruddha Maity ², Rachana Dubey ¹

Affiliations
1 Division of Crop Research, ICAR-Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna 800 014, IN
2 Plant Breeding, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, US

Abstract

Mechanized farming for vegetable production has evolved as an integral part of commercial agriculture during the past few decades. As a first step towards mechanized farming the use of tractors in Indian agriculture has increased by 528% during the period 1990–91 to 2018–19 from 0.15 to 0.8 million/year. Undoubtedly, use of such technologies has made vegetable as well as foodgrain production a profitable venture by easing land preparation, weed management and other intercultural operations, crop harvesting, etc. However, their continuous use in production fields has resulted in the substantial compaction of soil along the wheel lines of tractors and similar heavy machinery. Reports indicate a significant yield loss (13–73%) owing to soil compaction because it restricts ischolar_main penetrance into the soil, limiting nutrient and water uptake by the plants, and also potential water stagnation, which can limit the normal activities of respiring ischolar_mains leading to retarded plant growth and ischolar_main diseases. In this context, control traffic farming (CTF), which aims to reduce the area affected by the operation of heavy machinery that otherwise lead to soil compaction, brings a substantial value to the current global focus of sustainable and precision farming. CTF attempts to restrict the spatial movement of machinery wheels to fewer operation lanes during and across production cycles for a long time and allows specifically the undisturbed areas of soil for crop production. Research confirms a significant improvement in crop yield in different crop production systems worldwide and reduction in methane emission due to soil absorption (372–2100%) compared to random traffic farming. In this article, we discuss the advantages of CTF in terms of ischolar_main growth, nutrient mobilization and energy efficiency of the vegetable production system, and also argue on its scope in the Indian context, given the situation that no or only a few studies have been reported from the country.

Keywords

Controlled Traffic Farming, Environmental Impact, Soil Compaction, Vegetables.

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Nongmaithem Raju Singh ¹, A. Raizada ², K. K. Rao ³, Kirti Saurabh ³, Kumari Shubha ³, Rachana Dubey ³, L. Netajit Singh ⁴, Ashish Singh ⁵, A. Arunachalam ⁶

Affiliations
1 ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna 800 014, India; ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Umiam 793 103, India, IN
2 ICAR-Mahatma Gandhi Integrated Farming Research Institute, Motihari 845 429, India, IN
3 ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna 800 014, India, IN
4 College of Agriculture University, Jodhpur 342 304, India, IN
5 ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Umiam 793 103, India, IN
6 ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi 284 003, India, IN

Abstract

A study was undertaken in the Vaishali district of Bihar, India, in 2020 to assess the effect of various agroforestry systems (AFS) on the distribution of different pools of soil organic carbon (fraction I – very labile, fraction II – labile, fraction III – less labile and fraction IV – non-labile), carbon stocking and soil microbial activity. The mean (0–45 cm) total organic carbon (TOC) in different AFS ranged from 5.55 to 6.64 Mg C ha^–1, with the highest under poplar-based AFS (PB-AFS). Across the AFS studied, the C stocks (0–45 cm) varied from 36.24 (mango-based AFS) to 41.43 Mg C ha^–1 (PB-AFS). Overall, the magnitude of C fractions showed the order: fraction I > fraction IV > fraction III > fraction II. Significantly higher soil microbial biomass carbon was recorded under PB-AFS (219.36 mg g^–1) in 0–15 cm depth. Basal respiration was also the highest under PB-AFS (0.54 mg CO₂-C g^–1 h^–1), followed by TB-AFS (0.50 mg CO₂-C g^–1 h^–1) in 0–15 cm depth. Principal component analysis result showed that PC 1 and PC 2 represented about 97% of the total variation. TOC and active carbon pool had the maximum loading in PC 1, while microbial metabolic quotient and bulk density had the maximum value in PC 2

Keywords

Agroforestry system, basal respiration, princi-pal component analysis, soil microbial activity, total orga-nic carbon.

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