Effect of organic and bio-fertilizer management practices on nutrient availability and uptake by Faba bean-Maize sequence.

Bio-fertilizers and Organic cropping system has been identified as value-added soil amendments for improving nutrient use efficiency and increasing soil fertility and crop productivity in sustainable farming system. Two field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of organic fertilizers application in combination with bio-fertilizers on the yield, nutrient availability and uptake of Faba bean- Maize cropping sequence under sprinkler irrigation. A split plot design was employed with three replicates per treatment which include Control, chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer (farm yard manure [FYM]; town refuse and biogas manure) combined with bio-fertilizers (effective microorganism (EM) and N fixer Compomax (CoM)).The direct effects of applied manure as soil along with EM resulted in significant differences with regard to yield parameters (100 seed weight, Seed yield and foliage yield) of bean plants. Application of FYM combined with EM recorded the highest yield parameters followed town refuse application and the lowest value was recorded in the treatment receiving Biogas manure. The yield and yield attributing characters viz. 100 grain weight, grain yield and stover yield of Maize also exhibited response to manure application. Maize crop is more stable under combined organic and bio fertilization compared with mineral fertilization enhancing organic matter in soils and increases yield of maize. Significant differences among the treatments were noticed with respect to available NPK and uptake by bean due to manure application. Application of FYM combined with EM recorded the highest available and uptake of NPK and significantly superior over rest of the treatments and the lowest value were obtained in control. Similar trend of available and uptake of NPK was also observed with the residual crop (Maize).