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Not AvailableABSTRACT: A field experiment was conducted in the rainfed Inceptisol soils of Rakh Dhiansar in Kandi areas of Western Himalayas of South Kashmir and Kumaon from 2001 to 2005. The main focus of the present study was to quantify the impact of conjunctive nutrient management practices on soil quality parameters, to identify the key indicators of soil quality using data redundancy technique and to compute integrated soil quality indices (SQIs) and relative soil quality indices (RSQIs) as influenced by the conjunctive nutrient management treatments in hill and mountainous Inceptisol soils in Northern India under maize - wheat system. Out of the total 10 treatments, five treatments viz., T1: control, T2: FYM @ 10 t/ha + 20 kg N/ha, T3: FYM @ 10 t/ha + 30 kg N/ha, T4: FYM @ 10 t/ha + 40 kg N/ha and T5: green manuring with sunhemp + 20 kg N/ha were selected for the soil quality assessment studies. The nutrient management treatments significantly influenced the SQIs which varied between 3.69 to 5.66 across the management treatments, while the RSQIs varied between 0.63 to 0.96. Of all the nutrient management treatments, the application of FYM @ 10 t/ha + 40 kg N/ha maintained significantly highest SQI of 5.66, which was at par with the application of FYM @ 10 t/ha + 30 kg N/ha and green manuring with sunhemp + 20 kg N/ha both of which maintained SQI of 5.40. Irrespective of their statistical significance, the relative order of performance of the nutrient management treatments in maintaining the soil quality indices was: T4: FYM @ 10 t/ha + 40 kg N/ha (5.66) > T5: Green manuring with sunhemp + 20 kg N/ha (5.44) > T3: FYM @ 10 t/ha + 30 kg N/ha (5.40) > T2: FYM @ 10 t/ha + 20 kg N/ha (5.16) > T1: control (3.69). The per cent contributions of each of these key indicators towards SQIs were also computed. It was observed that almost all the key indicators contributed more or less equally towards the SQIs except available N and available Fe, which contributed to a minimum extent of 2.27% and 1.90%, respectively. The per cent contribution of the other key indicators was as follows: organic carbon (13.8%), available P (13.4%), available K (14.5%), available Zn (12.6%), microbial biomass carbon (13.7%), bulk density (15.2%) and mean weight diameter (11.6%).Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA long term study was conducted in the rainfed Inceptisol soils at All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRPDA), Rakhdhiansar (J&K) from 1998 to 2005. The main objectives of the present study were to quantify the long-term effects of conjunctive nutrient management on soil quality parameters, to identify the key indicators of soil quality using data redundancy technique and to compute integrated soil quality Index (SQI) and relative soil quality Index (RSQI) as influenced by long term INM treatments in Hill and mountainous Inceptisol soils in Northern India under maize - black gram system. Six INM treatments were considered for the study viz., T1: Control; T2: 100% N (inorganic); T3: 50% N (inorganic); T4: 25 kg N (compost); T5: 15 kg N (compost) + 10 kg N (inorganic) and T6: 15 kg N (compost) + 20 kg N (inorganic). After eight years of study, results revealed that the soil organic carbon was significantly higher with the long term application of 25 kg N (compost) (5.20 g kg-1) and 15 kg N (compost) + 20 kg N (inorganic) (5.19 g kg-1). Among the macronutrients, available N and P were significantly influenced by the integrated nutrient management treatments while available K was not influenced much. Significantly highest available N content of 156.5 kg ha-1 was observed with the application of 25 kg N through compost and significantly highest available P of 36.7 kg ha-1 was recorded with the application of 15 kg N (compost) + 20 kg N (inorganic). Among the secondary nutrients, irrespective of their significant influence, the content of both exchangeable Ca and Mg, varied from 2.47 to 3.76 cmol kg-1 and 0.43 to 0.52 cmol kg-1 respectively. Available S, being significantly influenced by the nutrient management treatments was observed to be highest under application of 25 kg N through compost (22.7 kg ha-1). Among the micronutrients, available Zn and B were conspicuously influenced by the management treatments while Fe, Cu and Mn were not influenced. Among the biological parameters viz., DHA, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) as well as labile carbon were significantly influenced by the management treatments. Application of 15 kg N (compost) + 20 kg N (inorganic) recorded significantly highest DHA (2.79 μg TPF hr-1g-1) as well as labile carbon (355.0 μg g-1 of soil) while application of 25 kg N (compost) recorded significantly highest MBC of 162.0 μg g-1 of soil. Among the physical soil quality parameters, both bulk density as well as mean weight diameter were significantly influenced by the management treatments. Soil quality assessment studies indicated that available N, exchangeable Ca, available Zn, & B, MBC and bulk density were found to be the key indicators of soil quality under maize-black gram. Among all the treatments practiced under maize-black gram system, application of 25 kg N through compost had significantly highest RSQI of 0.97 which was at par with application of 15 kg N (compost) + 20 kg N (inorganic) (0.94) ( P=0.05). The order of performance of the treatments in terms of soil quality was : 25 kg N (compost) ( 0.97) >15 kg N (compost) + 10 kg N (inorganic) (0.87) > T 100% N (inorganic) (0.83) > 50% N (inorganic) (0.81) > Control ( 0.63).Not Availabl