IMPACT OF SOIL AMENDEMNTS ON pH AND ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF SOIL IN MAIZE.

摘要

A field experiment was carried out at college farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad to evaluate the efficacy ofdifferent soil amendments on physico- chemical properties (pH and EC) of soil in maize crop. The soil was sandy loam intexture. The treatments were viz., T1:Vermicompost @ 5 t ha-1, T2:FYM @ 10 t ha-1, T3-tanksilt @ 50 t ha-1, T4-biochar @ 10 tha-1, T5-control (no fertilizer was applied), T6- RDF (NPK- 200, 60, 50 kg ha-1 respectively). Recommended Dose of Fertilizer(RDF) was applied commonly for all treatments from T1 to T4. Soil pH was not influenced significantly by amendments and RDF.However, a non significant increase in pH was observed with the application of amendments like tanksilt, vermicompost,biochar, FYM and RDF (7.70, 7.81, 7.80, 7.80 and 7.82) respectively compared to the control (7.75). The alkaline nature of thebiochar exchanges H+ with the surrounding soil, causing a rise in soil pH. The EC (Electrical Conductivity) of the soil was notinfluenced significantly by application of amendments and RDF. But, a non significant increase in EC was observed with theapplication of amendments like tanksilt, vermicompost, biochar, FYM and RDF (0.20, 0.19, 0.21, 0.18, 0.18 dS m-1) respectivelycompared to the control (0.17 dS m-1). Ebin et.al (2007) reported that the long-term application of fertilizer and manure in amaize- wheat-cowpea cropping system did not affect the soil pH and EC. The EC in 100% NPK + FYM and 100% NPKtreatments was higher than in control and 100% N treatments. This small increase in EC might be due to increase in basesaturation of the soil where optimum rate of fertilizer and manure was applied compared to the control plots ( Hati et al., 2007).