05. Improving effectiveness of rock Phosphate through mixing with Farmyard manure, Humic acid and Effective microbes to enhance yield and Phosphorus uptake by wheat
Main Article Content
Abstract
The cheaper rock phosphate (RP) could replace the commercial phosphatic fertilizer with pronounced advantages provided if the solubility and release of P form RP is enhanced through addition of some organic amendments. Combined application of RP with organic materials to soil reduces the dependence on chemical fertilizers and maintains higher levels of P in soil solution for a longer period than the fertilizer alone. Thus the present field study was conducted to investigate the effect of RP treated with farmyard manure (FYM), humic acid (HA) and effective microbes (EM) on the yield and uptake of P by wheat in marginal P calcareous alkaline soil during rabi 2011-12. The treatments was control (T1), 90 kg P2O5 ha-1 as single super phosphate (T2), 90 kg P2O5 ha-1 as RP (T3), RP+ 10 t FYM ha-1 (T4), RP+ 5 kg HA ha-1 (T5), RP+EM (T6), RP+HA+EM (T7), RP+FYM+EM (T8) and RP+FYM+HA+EM (T9) were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design with three replications. The SSP, RP and FYM was applied on soil surface; humic acid was first mixed with the sand and then applied whereas EM was first activated and then applied through spray on the soil surface at 200 L ha-1. After thorough mixing of treatments with soil, the wheat seeds cv. Atta Habib were sown in lines spacing 25 cm apart through seed drill with seed rate of 120 kg ha-1. The results showed that the application of RP alone significantly increased the grain yield from 3.74 in control to 4.42 t ha-1. This effect of RP was further enhanced when combined with FYM, HA, or EM and produced 4.98, 4.6 and 4.8 t grain yield ha-1, respectively suggesting improvement in P solubility. Among the amendments, FYM was superior to HA or EM but combining HA or EM with mixture of RP+FYM further enhanced the beneficial effect of RP. When RP was applied with FYM+HA+EM the grain yield jumped to the maximum (5.2 t ha -1) which was statistically similar to SSP. This combination resulted in net return of Rs. 36251 ha-1 with VCR of 4.02 which was almost double of SSP fertilizer. The tissue leaf N and grain N and P also significantly improved with application of RP in combination with the said amendments. Similarly the soil N and AB-DTPA extractable P also showed significant improvement with combined application of RP with FYM, HA and EM. The combination of RP+FYM+HA+EM which had the maximum yield with 2 times higher VCR than SSP and had higher tissue P at anthsis and in soil at boot and after harvesting of crop stages of the crop could be the optimum choice under the prevailing soil and climatic conditions.
Keywords: Grain yield; Rock phosphate; farmyard manure; Humic acid; Effective microbes; Wheat