Effect of Different Tillage and Organic Inputs on Soil Properties and Yield of Cotton on Vertisols

The present investigation was carried out at Research Farm, Department of Soil Science, Dr. PDKV, Akola during Kharif 2023-24 to study the effect of different tillage practices and organic inputs on soil properties and yield of cotton on Vertisols. Intensive tillage accelerates the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) and reduces soil quality and yields, particularly in rainfed areas. This is further worsened by imbalanced fertilization and insufficient recycling of organic residues. Conservation tillage, when combined with organic inputs like FYM, vermicompost and phospho-compost, can help to restore soil structure, increase SOC and promote sustainable agricultural practices. The study aimed to assess the effect of different tillage practices and organic inputs on soil properties and on yield of cotton. The factorial randomized block design with two factors and four tillage treatments as factor A and four sources of manure as factor B were adopted. The treatments were composed of factor A consisting of four tillage operations [conventional tillage (T1), reduced tillage (T2), minimum tillage (T3) and zero tillage (T4)] and factor B consisting of organic manures such as farmyard manure (10 t ha-1) (M1), vermicompost (5 t ha-1) (M2), phospho-compost (5 t ha-1) (M3) and no manure (M4) replicated thrice. The results clearly indicated that conventional tillage resulted in the significantly highest seed cotton yield (14.10 ha-1), stalk yield (27.78 ha-1), total uptake of N (46.46 ha-1), P (7.86 ha-1) and K (33.05 ha-1) relative to other tillage practices examined. Among the organic manure treatments the highest seed cotton yield (11.21 ha-1), stalk yield (21.95 ha-1), total N (37.27 ha-1), P (6.57 ha-1) and K (31.25 ha-1) uptake by cotton was observed with phospho-compost application. Based on the observed results, it was notable that the available soil N, P and K were significantly influenced by the distinct tillage practices and organic manures. Among the tillage practices, the highest content of available soil N (182.14 kg ha-1), P (17.14 kg ha-1) and K (312.95 kg ha-1) were exhibited by the reduced tillage. The use of vermicompost resulted in the highest available soil N (185.93 kg ha-1) and K (316.68 kg ha-1), while the highest available soil P (18.22 kg ha-1) was observed with phospho-compost. The results revealed that conventional tillage combined with phospho-compost improves cotton yield and nutrient uptake, while reduced tillage along with the application of vermicompost and phospho-compost improves soil fertility. Therefore, combined use of tillage and organic inputs could be beneficial for enhancing soil properties and higher productivity of cotton in Vertisols as well as the whole of Maharashtra.