Evaluation of intercropping legumes and green manuring on soil properties in maize field

A field experiment was conducted at Lamjung campus, Sundarbazar from March to July of the year 2023 to find out the effect of different legumes and green manuring on the improvement of soil moisture. The experiment was set up in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five treatments which are maize, Maize + Cowpea, Maize + French bean, Maize + Soybean and Maize + Green manuring and 4 replications. It was observed that the use of green manuring was better than the control treatment in increasing moisture content by more than 2.34 times (p<0.05). The control treated plots had higher bulk density which also meant that there was less moisture in the soil. The use of green manuring was seen to decrease the soil temperature by about 1.17 times as compared to the control. As compared to the control system, green manuring enhanced the organic carbon content by more than 2.21 times that of the control. Maize plant growth with the help of green manuring was excellent, ear length was about 20.72 cm and diameter was 3.22 cm and 2.25 % nitrogen content was found in the green manuring treatment and it is a requirement for cell division and elongation. These results indicate that green manuring notably improves maize productivity by substantially increasing soil moisture retention, maintaining soil temperature, and raising organic carbon content of soil. Therefore, green manuring is a sustainable and successful agricultural technique that improves soil qualities and crop yields, according to the study's findings.