ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY OF CEREAL BASED CROPPING SYSTEM THROUGH CONVENTIONAL COMPOSTING

Abstract

In a developing country like Pakistan where population is increasing at alarming rate, food especially grains shortage is the top challenge for researchers. Soil and fertilizer management plays a vital role in crop production. The objectives of the research were to evaluate compost and its various compositions with or without fertilizer N for improving soil fertility and cereals production. To achieve these objectives field experiments were conducted at Agricultural Research Farm, The University of Agriculture Peshawar in Randomized Complete Block design with split plot arrangement. Compost made up of farmyard manure (FYM), cereal residue (CR) and legume residue (LR) either solely or in different ratios and control were applied to main plot whereas, fertilizer N i.e. 0 and 60 kg N ha-1 for wheat and 0 and 75 kg ha-1 for maize were allotted to sub plots. Compost applied plots had higher soil total N (55%), organic matter (OM) (52%) and EC (47%) than control over two wheat-maize cycles. Similarly, fertilizer N applied plots had higher total N, organic matter and EC than no fertilized plots over 2 years. Among different ratio of composts, 100% CR had resulted in more soil total N (627 mg kg-1) and organic matter (13 g kg-1) over other ratios. Compost of 100% FYM gave minimum soil pH (8.06) and higher soil EC (258 μs cm-1) than other ratios. Compost incorporated plots hastened emergence (10.6 days) and delayed physiological maturity (161 days) of wheat when compared to control. Similarly, greater emergence m-2 (10%), tillers m-2 (8%), leaf area tiller-1(22%), leaf area index (22%), spikes m-2 (10%), plant height (21%), grain yield (64%), straw yield (34%), harvest index (12%), grain nitrogen content (21%), grain protein content (22%), straw nitrogen content (18%) and total nitrogen uptake (88%) were observed in compost amended treatments compared to control. Wheat emerged earlier (10 days) for added-N treatments than no-N (11 days). Fertilizer N application increased wheat tillers m-2(3%), leaf area index (3%), spikes m-2 (3%), biological yield (5%), grain yield (6%), straw yield (4%), grain nitrogen content (9%), straw nitrogen content (6%), grain protein content (9%) and total nitrogen uptake (12%) over no application of fertilizer N. Among different compositions of composts, more, spikes m-2 (252), grains spike-1 (50), thousand grain weight (43.5 g), biological yield (13366 kg ha-1), grain yield (5297 kg ha-1), straw yield (8069 kg ha-1), grain nitrogen content (21.9 g kg-1), straw nitrogen content (5.4 g kg-1), grain protein content (13.6%) and nitrogen uptake by crop (161 kg ha-1) were recorded for 100% FYM compost when compared to other compost ratios. In case of maize crop, compost application hastened days to emergence (7.2 days), delayed tasseling (52 days), silking (57 days) and physiological maturity (98 days) over control. Greater maize seedlings emergence m-2 (36%), leaf area (42%), plant height (30%), ears plant-1 (12%), grains ear-1 (28%), biological yield (57%), 1000 grains weight (14%), grain yield (65%) and harvest xiv index (5%) were observed in compost amended plots compared to control. Fertilizer N addition enhanced maize crop emergence (6%), leaf area plant-1 (6%), grains ear-1(4%), biological yield (4%) and grain yield (4%), over no-N plots. Significantly more ears plant-1 (0.98) were noted for FYM+CR(75:25) compost whereas, grains ear-1 (274), biological yield (16323 kg ha-1), thousand grain weight (270.7 g) and grain yield (4803 kg ha-1) were greater in 100% FYM compost than other treatments. Over the years, grain and biological yields of wheat and maize were increased by 40%, 26% and 27% and 14%, respectively during following year over 1st year. It is concluded that compost amendment enhanced soil properties and cereal performance, suggesting its application for minimizing reliance on fertilizer-N in a continuous cereal based cropping system. FYM as composting material proved superior in improving soil and crop attributes over CR and LR.