Remediation of soil past erosion effects through amendments and agronomic practices

Abstract

: In Pakistan there has been a trend to shift agriculture
towards steep lands, where soil erosion is one of the most
significant ecological restrictions to sustainable agricultural
production. This study was focused to find ways to ameliorate
the soil fertility degraded by past soil erosion. Different cropping
patterns viz maize-wheat-maize rotation (C1), maize-lentil-maize
rotation (C2) and maize-wheat+lentil intercrop-maize rotation
(C3) and different soil treatments, namely, the control (T1),
50 % NP (also called the farmer’s practice) (T2), 100 % NPK
or the recommended dose of NPK (T3) and 20 t ha-1
farmyard
manure integrated with 50 % N and 100 % PK (T4) were tested
in a randomized complete block (RCB) design with split plot
arrangements. Integrated use of organic manure (farmyard
manure) and inorganic NPK fertilizers(T4) produced the highest
wheat grain yield (4730 kg ha-1
), which was 9 % higher than the
100 % inorganic NPK (T3, 4349 kg ha-1
) and more than twice
the control (T1, 2072 kg ha-1
). The increase in lentil grain yield
in T4 (1112 kg ha-1
) was 7.4 % higher than in the recommended
NPK levelsforlentils(T3, 1035 kg ha-1
) and 79 % higherthan the
control. A significant nutrient enrichment and an improvement
in soil fertility parameters was recorded by T4 over T3. This was
further augmented by the application of cereal-legume rotation
(C2) in the traditional cereal-cereal rotation (C1) and their
combination showed a significantly improved residual effect on
soil fertility in the subsequent year. In conclusion the degraded
soil fertility of Missa gullied soil cannot be ameliorated to its full
potential with only the recommended dose of mineral fertilizers.
50 % N from organic fertilizer sources and the inclusion of
legumes in the crop rotation is necessary to ensure agricultural
sustainability on such soils.