JOURNAL of Soil Biology and Ecology

The role of various doses of FYM and inorganic fertilizers on the soil mesofauna abundance in baby corn during cropping and non-cropping season

Authors: C.R. ABHILASHA AND N.G. KUMAR

Abstract:

Soil mesofauna is essential to soil ecosystems, contributing to different functions and processes. Absence of these, the soil would be a sterile medium that could not sustain crop production. A field experiment on the effect of enhanced doses of farm yard manure and reduced doses of inorganic fertilizers, and 0 per cent of recommended fertilizer on the re-establishment of soil mesofauna in Baby Corn showed higher soil mesofauna abundance in 20 t of FYM ha-1 (64.66 mesofauna/400 soil) applied treatment as compared to other treatments during the cropping season. The same treatment also recorded a higher soil mesofauna population during the noncropping season. This treatment documented two and three times higher mesofauna than recommended package of practices for baby corn cultivation and inorganic treatment, respectively. The mean soil mesofauna population increased gradually during the rainy season and was significantly high at 105 days after germination (70.40 /400 g soil). Further, the mesofauna abundance reduced gradually up to 240 days after germination (5.76 /400 g soil) and reached 11.43 /400 g soil at 300 days after germination. The fertilizer alone applied treatment registered a significantly lower population than the rest of the FYM-based treatments at 105 and 300 days after germination.

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