JOURNAL of Soil Biology and Ecology

The impact of farmyard manure and fertilizer application rates on soil mesofauna in both monoculture and crop rotation systems

Author:N.G. KUMAR, T.G. AVINASH AND P. NIRMALA

Abstract :

The soil is home to some of the most fascinating organisms on Earth. A field experiment took place at GKVK, UAS, Bengaluru during the Kharif season as part of a 40-year long-term plot. The experiment involved varying levels of farmyard manure and inorganic fertilizers and included both mono-crop and crop rotation. The soil mesofauna abundance was notably high in the control plot (without external inputs) where only finger millet was cultivated. The abundance was comparable to the plot treated with 10t of farmyard manure per hectare in rotation with groundnut and finger millet crops. Moreover, the results showed no significant difference in soil mesofauna population between treatments involving 10t/ha of farmyard manure and 50 or 100 percent of recommended fertilizers, whether with groundnut and finger millet rotation or sole cultivation of finger millet.

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