Effect of Forage Crop Rotation on Soil Nutrients Status and Productivity of Land and Water Gupta J.J.*, Dey A. Division of Livestock and Fisheries Management, ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna, Bihar, India *Corresponding author: JJ Gupta; E-mail: guptajj@rediffmail.com
Online published on 19 July, 2019. Abstract Two experiments were conducted for one year duration each initiating from summer (experiment 1) and winter season (experiment II), respectively to understand whether preceding crop has any impact on biomass yield, water productivity and soil nutrients status. Multicut sorghum-berseem crop rotation yielded 21.53, 31.44 and 21.68% higher dry biomass (DM), protein (CP) and gross energy (GE) in experiment II than experiment I. Highest water productivity of 3.12±0.01 kg DM/m3 was recorded in Berseem-sorghum crop rotation in experiment II followed by annual rye-sorghum rotation (2.83±0.02 kg DM/m3). Nutritional (kg CP/m3 or Mcal/m3) water productivity were also highest in berseem-sorghum crop rotation. Depletion of soil nitrogen (N) was highest in sorghum-berseem crop rotation in both the experiments; however, depletion of phosphorus (P) was highest in maize-annual rye crop rotation in experiment I and sorghum-berseem crop rotation in experiment II. Potash (K) depletion was almost similar in all the crop rotations in both crop sequences. Organic carbon (OC) depletion was not affected in experiment I after one year of rotation; however, in experiment II, berseem-sorghum crop rotation showed the organic carbon level below the critical value (0.5%). Preceding crop had impact on soil fertility and productivity of succeeding crop. So, it may be recommended that multicut varieties of sorghum and berseem may be rotated for round the year fodder production which can sustain 15–16 adult cattle per ha considering the feeding of 20 kg green fodder per head per day. Top Keywords Cereal, Forage, Legume, Soil, Water Productivity. Top |