Effect of long-term fertilization on microbial population and soil enzymes under soybean-safflower cropping sequence in vertisols

The present investigation entitled “Effect of Long term Fertilization on Biological Properties of Soil under Soybean -Safflower Cropping Sequence in Vertisols”. A field experiment carried out during 2021-22 at Long Term Fertilizer Experiment Research Farm, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 12 treatments replicated four times. Population of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were varies from 30.26 to 58.51 CFU × 10-7 g-1 soil, 6.76 to 13.84 CFU× 10-3 g-1 soil and 27.11 to 50.61 CFU ×10-4 g-1 Soil, respectively, at harvesting in soybean-safflower cropping sequence. Dehydrogenase activity and acid and alkaline phosphatase activity significantly improved with the application of organic in combination with inorganic. dehydrogenase activity of soil ranged from 41.40 to 64.12 μg TPF g-1 soil 24 hr-1. Acid phosphatase enzyme activity in soil ranged from 39.57 to 64.64 μg p-NP g-1 soil hr-1. Alkaline Phosphatase activity in soil varied from 100.41 to146.80 μg p-NP g-1 soil hr-1.