Comparison of wheat yield and soil properties under open and poplar based agroforestry system

Field experiment was conducted during the Rabi season of 2013-14 on an established plantation at old site of Agroforestry Research Centre, Patharchatta of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantna-gar, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, India to evaluate the effect of poplar based agroforestry system and open system (without poplar) on yield of different wheat varieties and soil physico-chemical properties.The experi-ment was laid out in randomized block design with 4 treatments and each replicated thrice under both the growing conditions. The crop treatments are wheat varieties viz. UP-2572, PBW-550, DBW-711 and PBW-373. The highest grain yield of all the wheat varieties was obtained under open farming system. Highest grain yield of wheat was rec-orded in UP-2572 (45.3 q/ha) under open farming system. Agroforestry is proven land use system for vertically en-hancing soil health against unsuitable weather condition. The distribution of soil properties was detected from the depth 0-15 cm in poplar based agroforestry system and as well as in open system. During the experiment it was found that agroforestry add more nutrients to the soil compared to open system i.e. highest pH (7.9), EC (0.43 dSm-1), available soil nitrogen (253.48 kg/ha), potassium (219.63 kg/ha) were achieved with UP-2572 while organic car-bon (1.07%) and available soil phosphorus (22.72 kg/ha) were attained with DBW-711.