Assessment of the soil rhizospheric microbiome of maize as influenced under various fertigation levels and weed management practices

A field investigation was carried out at the experimental field of the AICRP on Weed Management of the Department of Agronomy, Dr. P.D.K.V., Akola (M.S.), India, during kharif 2021-22, to study the impact of various fertigation levels and weed management practices on the microbial population dynamics of the rhizospheric soil of maize. The experiment was designed in a split-plot design with four main plot treatments of fertigation levels and five sub-plot weed management treatments, which were replicated three times. The recommended dose of fertilizer applied was 120:60:60 NPK kg/ha. Among the weed management treatments, results clearly showed that treatment, weedy check, recorded significantly higher microbial population at all stages of observation, which was found to be on par with the farmer’s practice of 2 hoeing at a 15-20 days interval after sowing fb 2 HW. Whereas, among weed management treatments using herbicides, atrazine 0.75 kg/ha PE fb topramezone 0.0252 kg/ha PoE 20 DAS, recorded a higher soil microbial count, which was found at par with treatment of atrazine 0.75 kg/ha PE fb tembotrione 0.120 kg/ha PoE 20 DAS at all stages of observation after application of treatments. However, the effect of various fertigation levels as well as the interaction of fertigation levels and weed management treatments on the microbial count was found to be non-significant.