Long-term Effects of Fertilizers and Manure on Productivity of Soybean (Glycene max L.) - Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) Cropping System and Soil Health under Vertisols in Central Platue of India

Background: The declining trends in yields of different crops and cropping systems have been reported to be mainly due to over-exploitation and mis-management of soil, imbalanced use of fertilizers Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to examine the effects of long-term application of varying levels of fertilizers and manures on productivity and dynamics of soil health under soybean- safflower cropping system. Methods: The present study was carried out at research farm of AICRP on long term fertilizer experiment, Vasantroa Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani in medium deep black soil. The experiment was conducted with eleven treatments in a randomized block design with four replications. This study was made to evaluate the effect of long-term effects of fertilizers and manures on productivity of soybean (Glycene max L.)-safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) cropping system and soil health under Vertisols in central plateau of India during 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Result: The pooled data of three years concluded that, soybean and safflower yields were highest in treatment 100% NPK+5 t FYM ha-1 and gave maximum and significantly more population of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes and soil microbial biomass C. Fertilizer treatments with 100% NPK and 150% NPK were comparable and significantly better than application of 50% NPK, 100% N, 100% NP and 100% NPK(-S) in various studied soil biological properties. Integrated use of 100% NPK with FYM sustained higher yields and soil biological properties under soybean-safflower cropping system in Vertisol at Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyappeth, Parbhani (Maharashtra).