Effect of Organic Manure and Mineral Fertilizers on Wheat Growth and Soil Properties

Sustainable crop management relies on the combined use of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with manures (control, farmyard manure, sesbania and cluster bean) as main split and mineral fertilizer rates (control, 40-30, 60-45, 80-60, 90-70 and 120-90 kg N-P 2 O 5 ha -1 ) as sub-split. The manures significantly influenced shoot dry weight, N, P and K uptake and soil properties. Conversely, the rates of mineral fertilizers did not have any effect on soil properties, however, significantly enhanced the shoot dry weight and N, P and K uptake. The combined use of manures and mineral fertilizers had a significant effect on shoot P uptake. Farmyard manure was the best manure amendment with 13% reduction in bulk density and 51% increase in organic matter content over control. Incorporation of farmyard manure increased the shoot dry weight and N, P and K uptake, respectively by 8, 14, 11 and 8% over control. Among rates of mineral fertilizers, recommended rate of mineral fertilizer (120-90 kg N-P 2 O 5 ha -1 ) was the best treatment with corresponding increase of 26, 81, 56 and 55% in shoot dry weight, N, P and K uptake over control. Integration of farmyard manure with recommended rate of mineral fertilizer enhanced shoot P uptake by 17% as compared to solo application of mineral fertilizers. Through this study, it was concluded that farmyard manure at 6 tons ha -1 coupled with mineral fertilizer rate of 120-90 kg N-P 2 O 5 ha -1 was the best source for sustainable soil health and wheat production.