Variation in physico-chemical properties of soil under different agri-horti system in Vindhyan region

Adoption of unsuitable production system may lead to deterioration of soil physico-chemical properties. Hence, it becomes important to assess the impact of various production systems. For this purpose, a study was carried out to find out variation in physico-chemical properties of soil in agri-horti system based four orchards of Rajiv Gandhi South Campus, Banaras Hindu University, Mirzapur, India. Soil samples were collected from the orchards of custard apple (Annona reticulate), guava (Psidium guajava), bael (Aegle marmelos) and crane berry (Carissa carandas) from two depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm) separately within canopy and out of canopy of different plants. The results of the study revealed that all the agri-horti systems were effective in bringing gradual improvement in the physico-chemical properties of the soil. Among different orchards tried, the custard apple system resulted in the highest improvement in temperature (27.16 oC), moisture (24.53 %) and water-holding capacity (41.80 %), whereas crane berry based system recorded better result in case of bulk density, porosity, electrical conductivity, pH, organic carbon, available N (187.55 kg ha-1) and K (193.46 kg ha-1). Custard apple based system recorded highest DTPA extractable micronutrients (Zn 0.54, Fe 17.23, Cu 0.88 and Mn14.72 mg ka-1)