Response of wheat productivity and soil fertility to the residual effect of organic nutrients sources

Abstract

Effective nutrient management is the only way to boost crop growth, yield, soil fertility and mitigate climate change effects. To evaluate the effect of organic and inorganic nutrient sources on wheat productivity, an experiment was conducted at the Agriculture University Peshawar-Pakistan during the winter of 2018-2020. A randomized complete block design was used for the experiment with a split-plot arrangement. Wheat crops were grown in main plots while previously applied nutrient was kept in subplots. Experimental treatments consist of half (H) NPK, full NPK, legume residues (LR) @ 10 tons ha -1 , humic acid (HA) @ 5 kg ha -1 , biochar (BC) @ 10 tons ha -1 , LR + HNPK, HA + HNPK, BC + HNPK, HLR +HHA+ HNPK, HLR + HBC + HNPK, HBC + HHA + HNPK. The residual effect of treatments on wheat crops was statistically significant in terms of wheat yield and yield components. The residual effect of biochar and HNPK improved wheat grain spike -1 by 60%, stover yield by 97%, grain protein content by 74% while improved soil AB-DTPA K by 27% as compared to sole application of HNPK. Furthermore, combined application of HNPK improved SOM 80%, plant height 15%, soil total N by 92%, AB-DTPA P (61%) were found in BC 10-ton ha -1 treatment. Plots that were previously sown with maize varieties (POMV) resulted in better wheat yield as compared to plots sown with CS 220 hybrid plots. Overall, the application of biochar in combination with NPK resulted in higher yield and yield components of wheat along with enhancing soil fertility over the sole application of inorganic source