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Effect of green manuring on the physical properties of soil under a rice–wheat cropping system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

R. C. Joshi ,
D. D. Haokip  and
K. N. Singh
R. C. Joshi
Affiliation:
Division of Agricultural Physics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi – 110012, India
D. D. Haokip
Affiliation:
Division of Agricultural Physics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi – 110012, India
K. N. Singh
Affiliation:
Division of Agricultural Physics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi – 110012, India
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Summary

The effects of green manuring with Sesbania aculeata, or with Leucaena leucocephala leaves and of weed incorporation on the physical properties of a clay loam soil under a rice–wheat rotation were compared at New Delhi, India, in 1986–87. Under puddled conditions, the volumetric moisture content of the saturated topsoils varied from 0·400 cm3/cm3 in the Sesbania-treated plots to 0·425 cm3/cm3 in plots receiving no green manure, but in the unsaturated soils at rice harvest the corresponding values were 0·317 and 0·271 cm3/cm3. The effects of the green manures on the water content of the soils were still evident after a subsequent wheat crop. Other soil physical properties affected by the treatments were the following (data refer to topsoils measured after the rice harvest): settling index (cm/cm), an estimate of structural instability, which ranged from 25·5% (Sesbania-treated plots), to 28·6% (weed incorporation), 29·7% (Leucaena-treated plots) and to 33·5% (NPK-fertilizer only). Soil dispersion increased from 6·0 to 10·0 g/100g through the same treatment sequence. Hydraulic conductivity in the NPK-fertilizer only plots was 31 cm/day, but increased to 4·8 cm/day in the Sesbania-trealed plots. Sesbania was superior to the other green manures for improving soil physical properties after its incorporation.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 122 , Issue 1 , February 1994 , pp. 107 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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