Effect of natural farming, organic farming and integrated crop management practices on bacterial population, fungal population and dehydrogenase activity of soil at flowering stage of soybean + maize intercropping system

The present investigation entitled “Effect of natural farming, organic farming and integrated crop management practices on yield attributes and productivity of soybean + maize intercropping system under unbunded Vertisol of Chhattisgarh plains”was conducted during Kharif season of 2022 and 2023 at Instructional cum Research Farm, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The soil of experimental field was clayey (Vertisol), neutral in reaction (pH 6.85), medium in organic carbon (0.53%), low in available nitrogen (144 kg ha-1), low in available phosphorus (18.4 kg ha-1) and high in available potassium (377 kg ha-1). The experiment was carried out in randomized block design with five treatments and four replications. The treatments comprised of T1 - Control (No addition of any inputs except labour for operations including weeding), T2 - Complete Natural Farming (1. Beejamrit + Ghanjeevamrit + Jeevamrit; 2.Crop residue mulching; 3.Intercropping and 4.Whapasa), T3 - AI-NPOF package (75% RDN through organic sources + two foliar spray of 10% cow urine and vermiwash at 30 and 50 DAS), T4 - 50% RDN through organic sources + 50% RDN through inorganic sources (organic/natural pesticides for pest management) and T5 - 50% RDN through organic sources + 50% RDN through inorganic sources (chemical pesticides for pest management). Significantly the highest bacterial population (199.4, 214.6 and 207.0 cfu x 107 g-1 soil), fungal population (17.8, 19.4 and 18.6cfu x 104g-1 soil) and dehydrogenase activity of soil (70.3, 71.7 and 71.0μg TPF g-1 soil) were found in AI-NPOF package (75% RDN through organic sources + two foliar spray of 10% cow urine and vermiwash at 30 and 50 DAS, respectively) during 2022, 2023 and on mean basis respectively followed by Complete Natural Farming (1. Beejamrit + Ghanjeevamrit + Jeevamrit; 2. Crop residue mulching; 3. Intercropping and 4. Whapasa).