Growth and yield response of cotton grown under organic inputs and tillage practices in Vertisols

A field experiment was conducted during the Kharif-2024 at the Research Farm, Department of Soil Science, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, to evaluate the influence of different tillage practices and organic inputs on the growth and yield of cotton in Vertisol soils. The soil of the experimental site was montmorillonite, hyperthermic, high clay content having typical swell-shrink properties. The experiment was initiated in a factorial randomized block design with 16 treatment combinations involving four tillage practices—conventional, reduced, minimum, and zero tillage—and four organic inputs—FYM (10 t ha⁻¹), vermicompost (5 t ha⁻¹), phospho-compost (5 t ha⁻¹), and a no-manure control, replicated four times from the year 2023-24. The second cycle of organic cotton experiment results revealed that, interaction effect of conventional tillage with FYM @ 10 t ha-1 showed significantly highest plant height at 30, 60 and 90 DAS, and was also reported highest no. of sympodial branches over all other treatment combinations. However, interaction effect of conventional tillage practices in combination with phospho-compost @ 5 t ha-1 showed significant superiority in squares and bolls formation of cotton and which was reflected on significantly highest seed cotton yield (16.50 q ha⁻¹) as well as cotton stalk yield (35.49 q ha⁻¹), might be due to the fact that, major available nutrient content in phospho-compost is higher over all other organics used for experimentation and Vertisols, the soils have a poor workability due to high clay content and their typical swell-shrink properties and formation of deep wide cracks under moisture variations pose many challenges for agriculture, if not tilled properly. These findings indicating that adopting suitable tillage methods in conjunction with nutrient-rich organic inputs can play a crucial role in enhancing organic cotton productivity under rainfed conditions.