Studies on Management Practices on Growth, Development, Tillage and NPK Content of Soybean (Glycine max L.) in the North Western Himalayas

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted for 2 years (2022 & 2023) at Research Farm of the Department of Agronomy, CSK HPKV, Palampur on silty clay loam soils to study the performance of soybean to varied tillage and nutrient management practices. In terms of tillage practices, significantly better plant height, dry matter accumulation, number of nodules and nodule fresh and dry weight per plant, were observed in conventional tillage and zero tillage with residue retention, while zero tillage without residue resulted in the least growth parameters. The number of days to 50 % flowering and physiological maturity were not significantly influenced by both tillage and nutrient managements. The content and uptake of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in soybean were also found to be significantly higher in conventional tillage (CT) during the first year and in zero tillage with residue retention (ZTR) during the second, although, during both the years, CT and ZTR was at par with each other. Zero tillage without residue retention (ZT) practices marked the least content and uptake of nutrients irrespective of the years. The nutrient management practices performed alike during both the years, where significantly higher growth parameters and nutrient content and uptake were obtained in organic farming practice, which was followed by recommended dose of fertilizes and integrated nutrient management, nano-urea and Subhash Palekar natural farming. Thus, it can be concluded that though both CT and ZTR performs similarly in plant growth and development, however, in the long term sustainability, ZTR is superior to CT. Organic farming practices is a environment friendly approach and soybean being leguminous in nature greatly responds to it, thereby, adoption of ZTR and organic farming in leguminous crops can be a recommended practices for the long term quality and productivity of agriculture.