Effect of integrated organic nutrient sources on soil nutrient status and microbial population in strawberry field

Abstract

Field experiment was carried out to ascertain the effect of integrated organic nutrient resources on plant growth, fruit yield, soil fertility and soil microbial population growth under organic strawberry production system. Five treatments combinations of nutrient resources, viz. T1 - Farm yard manure + Azotobacter + phosphorus solublizing bacteria + oil cake , T2 - Poultry manure + Azotobacter + Wood ash + phosphorus solubilizing bacteria + Oil Cake , T3 - Farm yard manure + Azospirillum + phosphorus solubilizing bacteria + oil cake, T4 - Poultry manure + Azospirillum + Wood ash + phosphorus solubilizing bacteria + oil cake and T5 - recommended dose of NPK (i.e. 340 :150 : 340 kg/ha) were tested on strawberry var. Senga Sengana. Maximum plant growth and fruit yield (132.75 q/ha) obtained with treatment T2 closely followed by treatment T4. Maximum available nitrogen (370.29 kg ha-1) and phosphorus (22.11 kg ha-1) was recorded with treatment T4 with a gain of 36.29 and 4.61 kg /ha, respectively. Where as maximum potassium (331.79 kg ha-1) was observed with treatment T2 with a gain of 12.29 kg/ha. The population of Azospirillium (1.55 x 10 6) was highest with treatment T4, however, maximum population of Azotobacter (1.45 × 105) and phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (1.16 × 106) were observed with treatment T2 . On the basis of performance, treatments T2 and treatment T4 may be adopted for higher yield and sustainability.