Characteristics of Organic Manures and Its Effect on Physical Properties of Soil in Pearl Millet

Abstract

Organic manures are rich source of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as micronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, and sulfur, which are essential for plants. It also contains organic matter that improves soil structure, water-holding capacity, and aeration. The study focused on evaluating two types of organic manures, i.e. Farmyard manure (FYM) and vermicompost. Results showed that vermicompost had higher nutrient content them FYM. A field experiment was conducted during kharif season 2018 at Agronomy farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture Jobner (Rajasthan). The design of experiment was factorial randomized block design with three replications. The experiment comprised five treatments of organic manures (Control, vermicompost @ 2.5 t ha-1, vermicompost @ 5 t ha-1, FYM @ 5 t ha-1 and FYM @ 10 t ha-1) and four treatments of fertility levels (Control, 50 per cent RDF (recommended dose of fertilizer), 75 per cent RDF  and 100 per cent RDF). The variety used for experiment was RHB-173 of pearl millet. Results showed that the application of FYM @ 10 t ha -1 significantly decreased the bulk density and increased the saturated hydraulic conductivity over control. The maximum water retention of soil (12.86 per cent and 3.28 per cent) at 33kPa and 1500 kPa were recorded under the treatment vermicompost @ 5 t ha-1 being at par with FYM @ 10 t ha -1. Thus, addition of FYM @ 10 t ha -1 improves the physical soil properties.