Impact of conservation agriculture production system on soil biological properties

The research entitled “Effect of conservation production system on soil properties and carbon dynamics in rainfed condition” was conducted at AICRP for dryland agriculture, UAS, GKVK, and Bangalore during Kharif 2020. With three main plot treatments “Tillage practices” (M1-Conventional tillage, M2-Reduced tillage, M3-Zero tillage) and three sub plot treatments ‘Cover crops’ (C1-Control, C2-Field bean, C3-Horse gram) replicated thrice and laid out in split plot design. Higher organic carbon (0.43%) and available nitrogen (246.69 kg ha-1) was in reduced tillage with horse gram as surface mulch (M2C3). Zero tillage with horse gram surface mulch (M3C3) provided favourable environment for increased microbial activity, with increased MBC (262.30 μg g-1), MBN (30.54 μg g-1) and dehydrogenase activity (54.72 μg TPFg-1 soil 24 h-1). Overall, adoption of conservation agriculture; crop mulching and reduced tillage operations promotes the soil biological properties under rainfed condition.