Integrated Effect of Sulphur and Farmyard Manure on Yield, Quality of Crops and Nutrient Status under Rapeseed-Rice Cropping System in Fluventic Dystrochrept

摘要

Rapeseed-rice is an efficient, potential and sustainable cropping system in Assam. Rapeseed is the edible oilseed crop for people of Assam and accounts for 92% of the total oilseed crops of Assam. Summer rice occupies 24% of the total rice area with an average productivity of 1.0 t ha~(-1). Average productivity is however, very low and not sufficient to meet the need of local consumption. Among the several constraints, improper nutritional management is an important impediment for increasing the productivity. After NPK, S is the fourth plant nutrient whose deficiency is widespread in India and considered as the quality- and quantity-limiting factor particularly for oilseed and paddy (Sakal et al. 2001). Sulphur plays an important role in growth anddevelopment of crops as it is a constituent of amino acids like methionine, cysteine and cystine; needed for the synthesis of other metabolites like coenzymes A, thiamin and glutathione and is also required for synthesis of chlorophyll and improvement ofoil production in oilseed crops. Organically bound sulphur is the potential source of plant available sulphur in many soils, therefore use of organic manures improves the availability of sulphur in soils and leaves a residual effect for longer time. Farmyard manure is a complete food for crops including S with wide ranging benefits. Thus, the integrated use of sulphur and farmyard manure improves the availability of sulphur in soils and plays a significant role in improving quality and seed development(Ghosh et al. 2002; Singh and Sinsinwar 2006). In Assam, the response of rapeseed to sulphur application has earlier been reported by other workers (Patgiri and Baruah 1993; Das and Das 1994). Yet, integrated effect of sulphur and farmyard manure on performance of quality and crop productivity in Assam has remained uninvestigated. Keeping these facts in view, present study was undertaken to evaluate the integrated effect of sulphur and farmyard manure on yield, quality and available nutrient status under rape-seed-rice cropping system.