Improvement of soil physical and chemical properties with compost application in rice-wheat cropping system

Crop productivity of soils of Pakistan has become stagnant in the last decade. One of the major constraints is organic matter status that has reached to bare minimum. This research work was conducted to evaluate the use of compost for the improvement of soil parameters of normal soil having no salinity (pHs = 8.19, ECe = 2.35 dS m -1 and SAR = 7.20). Compost (12 and 24 t ha -1 ) was applied without and with chemical fertilizer (NPK for Rice: 100-70-70 and wheat: 140-110-70 kg.ha 1 ) to investigate the probable effects of compost on crop yields and soil conditions. The soil pHs was lowered and SAR decreased due to acidic effect of compost, formation of acids, release of Ca and leaching of Na. There was a slight increase in ECe of the soil. The available amount of all the major plant nutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) and organic matter content increased in the soil. On the basis of experimental results, a recommendation for the farmers can be formulated that they should compost the crop residues and apply in their soils for the increased sustainable crop production. In this way, the soil fertility can be improved with a net improvement in land productivity.