Response of Soil Biological Functions to Different Row Ratios and Bio Stimulants in a Wheat Chickpea Intercropping System

Background: Soil is a crucial natural resource and its health has been deteriorating at an increased pace. The application of biostimulants in different cropping systems could improve soil health by increasing the soil buffering capacity while also encouraging the proliferation of beneficial soil microbes. The soil microbial activity provides an indicative response to plant growth and yield while promoting soil health. Methods: The experiment was performed in a spilt plot design with 3 replications and 16 treatment combinations. The main plots consist of M1: sole wheat, M2: sole chickpea, M3: wheat: chickpea (2:1), M4: wheat: chickpea (4:1) and subplot treatments includes S0: control, S1: Seaweed extract, S2: Humic and fulvic acid and S3: Amino acids. Result: The main plot treatments received a boost in the microbial activities through foliar application of biostimulants with sole chickpea (M2) receiving a remarkable increase in SMBC (245.72, 269.09, 263.61 µg g-1), DHA (12.71, 24.00, 19.46 µg TPF g-1 soil day-1) and UEA (1.30, 4.64, 4.05 µg urea N g-1 soil min-1) respectively at 45 DAS, 90 DAS and at harvest. Also, the seaweed extract treatment (S1) enumerated the highest SMBC (252.22, 276.27, 269.26), DHA (15.13, 25.97, 20.82) and UEA (1.32, 4.58, 4.24) respectively at 45 DAS, 90 DAS and at harvest. The other biostimulant treatments S2 (humic and fulvic acid) and S3 (amino acids) also performed well in comparison to the control. This study realises the importance of biostimulants for enhancing soil biological properties for better soil health.