INTEGRATED EFFECTS OF VERMICOMPOST, CLIMATIC FACTORS AND SOIL MIXING ON SELECTED SOIL FERTILITY INDICATORS

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of vermicompost
(0, 10, and 15 tha-1), climatic elements i.e. soil moisture (50%, 70%, and 100%)
and elevation of soil temperature (1 to 20C) on the physico-chemical properties
and nutrient availability of post-harvest calcareous-acid mixed soils after rice
production. A total of 18 treatments assembling the afore-mentioned doses was
applied. The analyses of the soils demonstrated significant variation in effects
(p ≤0.05) of the treatments on both the available nutrient status and the physicochemical
properties of soils. Except for available sulfur; soil pH, EC, organic carbon
(OC), available nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, and sodium were
detected in the higher amounts in 1:1 (calcareous : acid-soils) mixed soils than
those of 1:3 mixed counterpart both in initial and post-harvest soil conditions. The
highest levels of soil pH, OC, available P and Zn were determined in the treatment
T13. Whereas, treatment T6 proved to be the best dose for the highest availability of
Ca and Mg. The treatments T1, T2, T11, and T16 were recorded to have the lower OC,
available N, P, Ca, Mg, Zn and S contents in soils. In particular, the availability
of Na was found to be in lesser amounts in all the subplots. In a nutshell, most of
the treatments exerted favourable influence in maintaining a healthy level of soil
physico-chemical parameters owing to their inherent characteristics.