Diversity of spider fauna in pigeonpea(Cajanus cajan L.) Ecosystem

Abstract :

Improving and maintaining soil quality for enhancing and sustaining agricultural productivity is of utmost importance for India’s food and nutritional security. Though India is a food surplus nation, at present with about 240 Mt food grain production per annum, it will require about 7-9 Mt additional food grains each year if the trend in rising population persists. This challenge can be met by greater and more efficient use of fertilizer and organic sources. Many factors influence the complex soil chemical, physical and biological processes which govern soil fertility and productivity. Changes in soil fertility caused by imbalanced fertilizer use may take several years to appear. These properties in turn can be influenced by external factors such as global climate change and land use management practices. In this connection, to study the effect of continuous application of plant nutrients in organic, inorganic and integrated nutrient management on crop yield a Permanent Manurial Experiment (PME) in rice based cropping systems has been conducted from 2010 onwards with four treatments viz., control, organics, inorganic fertilization and Integrated Nutrient Management (INM). The results revealed that among the four treatments, INM practices recorded the higher grain yield (5600 kg/ha) followed by inorganic (4700 kg/ha) and organic treatment (3750 kg/ha). Control recorded the lesser grain yield (3200 kg/ha). Over the years due to adoption of soil fertility management practices involving exclusively inorganic fertilizers distortedly, it has become hazardous in the long run depleting the soil fertility, distorting the soil health and declining the quality of the agricultural produces. Total organic farming would not be feasible, viable and profitable under high productive intensive agriculture. Therefore, adoption of integrated plant nutrient supply and management strategies for enhancing soil quality, input use efficiency and crop productivity is extremely important for food and nutritional security in Indian agriculture.