Nutrient Balance and Soil Fertility of Rainfed Maize-Wheat Cropping System Under Different Seed Priming, Tillage and Nutrient Management Practices.

Crop productivity, soil quality and fertility have been degraded due to intensive conventional tillage and poor crop management practices. Conservation tillage along with proper crop establishment methods (including seed priming, integrated nutrient management) helps in sustaining the productivity of crops, especially under rainfed conditions. A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of seed priming, tillage and nutrient management practices on nutrient balance; chemical and microbial properties of soil; and productivity of maize-wheat cropping system in rainfed conditions. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three factors (tillage, seed priming and nutrient management) and control as independent treatment for general comparison of results. The findings showed that chemical and microbial properties of soil were enhanced under zero tillage+ mulch as compared to other tillage practices. However, crop productivity was higher in conventional tillage+ mulch (70.28 q/ha (maize), 35.27 q/ha (wheat)). Under nutrient management practices, integrated nutrient management proved to be better as compared to recommended dose of fertilizers. Highest production efficiency (32.8 kg ha−1 day−1) was found under CT+M,Hydro,Int. Nutrient balance (N, P, K) was found higher in treatments with integrated nutrient management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]