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The integrated use of mineral fertilizers and organic materials is widely recognized as a sustainable approach for crop production. A field experiment was conducted in the nursery organic farm at Karguwanji, Bundelk- hand University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, during the Rabi season of 2019-20 to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and sulphur supplementation through organic sources on soil properties in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). The experiment comprised nine treatments laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The results revealed a significant influence of organic sources on soil chemical properties. Soil pH was not significantly affected by the treatments. Electrical conductivity (EC), available phosphorus, and available potassium reached their highest values in treatment $T_8$ (50% Vermicompost + 50% Farm Yard Manure + 30 kg/ha S). Available nitrogen was highest in T1 (100% FYM), whereas available sulphur was highest in the Recommended Dose of Fertilizers (T0).
Keywords: Farm Yard Manure; Vermicompost; Soil properties; Nutrient availability; Sulphur
Nitrogenplaysacrucialroleinplantmetabolismand vegetativegrowth.Inorganicplantnutritionhashistoricallybeendominatedbynitrogenbecauseitenhances bothcropyieldandquality.Understandingtheinteractionofnitrogenwithotheressentialplantnutrientsis vitalforoptimizingplantgrowthanddevelopment.An increasednitrogensupplyboostsvegetativegrowth, subsequentlyraisingthedemandforothernutrients intherootzone.
Sulphur is equally essential for plants as a major usingsoilpassingthrougha0.2mmsieveviatheWalkconstituent of most plant proteins and their amino leyandBlack(1934)wetoxidationmethod.Chemical acid fragments, such as cystine, methionine, and parameters(pH,EC,availableN,P,K,andS)weredeglutathione. Sulphur availability in soil depends terminedusingstandardanalyticalprocedures. Soil heavily on organic matter content, soil texture, and pHandECweremeasuredina1:2soil/watersuspensoilpH(Chaoetal.,1962).Totalsulphuramountand sion(Richards,1954),organiccarbonbywetoxidation sulphateretentioncapacity(SO4)aregenerallylower with sulfuric acid (H2SO4) + potassium dichromate incoarse-texturedsoilsandcanbefurtherdiminished (K2Cr2O7)(WalkleyandBlack, 1934), availableNby by the application of limestone and phosphate alkaline-KMnO4 oxidizable N method (Subbiah and (CamargoandRaij,1989). Asija,1956),availablePby0.5Msodiumbicarbonate Vermicompostingisabiologicalprocessinvolvingin- (NaHCO3)extractionmethod(Olsenetal.,1954),availteractionsbetweenearthwormsandmicroorganisms, ableK(HanwayandHeidel,1952),availablesulfurby leadingtoearthwormbiomassproductionandvermi- 0.15%CaCl2(WilliamsandSteinbergs,1959). compost.Thispracticeprovideshigh-qualityorganic manurewhileminimizingenvironmentalpollutionand StatisticalAnalysis healthhazards,helpingmaintainsoilinaproperhome- Thedatarecordedduringthecourseofinvestigation ostaticstate.Italsoaidsindetoxifyingexcessiveheavy weresubjectedtoanalysisstatisticallyusinganalysisof metalslikecopperandlead.Vermicompostingoffersa variancetechniques(ANOVA)forrandomizedblockdepracticalsolutiontodecliningsoilfertility,soildegra- signasprescribedbyConcharanandCox(1959).Standation,andtheindiscriminateuseofchemicalfertiliz- darderrorofmeanineachcaseandthecriticaldifferers(PilliandSridhar,2019). FarmYardManure(FYM) enceonlyforsignificantcaseswerecomputedat5% isanothervaluableorganicfertilizerrichinessential levelsofprobabilityasunder. nutrientslikenitrogen,phosphorus,andpotassium, whichpromoterobustplantgrowth. ResultsandDiscussion
MaterialsandMethods Soil reaction (pH) under different organic sources The field experiment was conducted during the Rabi season of 2019-20 at the nursery organic farm, Karguwanji, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. Geologically, Jhansi is situated between the Pahuj and Betwa rivers at an average elevation of 225 meters above mean sea level (MSL), at at 78°3411Elongitudeand25°2655Nlatitude. Thesoil had EC 0.57 dSm-1, pH 6.96 organic carbon 0.39 %, availableN109.91,P17.31andK170.10kgha-1.The soil had CaCl2 extractable sulphur content of 13.86 kgha-1. Theexperimentconsistsofninetreatments andthreereplicationswithRandomizedBlockDesign (RBD).The treatments were comprised of T0: RDF 100:75:55 (Through chemical fertilizer), T1: 100% N Electricalconductivityofsoilafterharvestoftomato from FYM, T2: 100% N from V.C., T3: 100% N from crop FYM+20kg/hasulphurthroughgypsum, T4: 100%N plication of nitrogen and sulphur through organic NFromC+20kg/hasulphurthroughgypsum,T6:100% NFromV.C+30kg/haFromsulphurthroughgypsum, T7:50%NFromFYM+50%NFromVC+20kg/hasulphur through gypsum, T8: 50% N From FYM+50% from VC+30kg/hasulphurthroughgypsum.
Soilsampleswerecollectedfroma0-15cmdepthbeforefertilizerapplication,air-dried,mixedthoroughly, andsieved.Soilorganiccarbon(SOC)wasestimated
was non-significant after harvest of tomato crop.
The maximum available pH 7.53 was recorded in the treatment T8 (50 %N from FYM+ 50 % N from VC+30 kg/ha S through gypsum). The lowest pH wasrecordedinT7(50%V.C+50%FYM+20kg/haS).
Soil pH data was presented in (Table-1). Han et al., (2016)organicmanuretreatedplotwassignificantly increasedsoilreaction(pH).Theresultsofthisstudy wereinagreementwiththeresultsofseveralstudies thathaveshownorganicmanuretreatmentincreased soilpH,butchemicalfertilizertreatments,suchasNPK fertilizer, decreased soil pH (Warren Fonteno 1993; Whalenetal.2000;Liuetal.2010).
increased significantly due to combined apafterharvestofcrop Treatment pH EC(dSm-1) SOC% N(kgha-1) P(kgha-1) K(kgha-1) S(ppm) T0 7.33 0.62 0.46 109.64 17.20 135.67 15.13 T1 7.33 0.23 0.51 116.67 17.00 114.13 14.00 T2 7.10 0.51 0.39 87.00 15.00 129.33 11.67 T3 7.30 0.52 0.48 109.94 13.67 125.00 13.80 T4 7.33 0.60 0.44 96.66 8.10 128.33 12.47 T5 7.33 0.60 0.49 110.29 9.67 141.67 12.00 T6 7.33 0.53 0.55 110.37 8.00 171.67 10.43 T7 7.27 0.64 0.51 110.00 12.63 108.67 13.73 T8 7.53 0.65 0.39 84.29 17.20 175.00 9.47 SEm(±) 0.16 0.02 0.03 5.68 1.19 11.17 0.69 CD(5%) N/A 0.05 0.08 17.18 3.61 33.77 2.09 Note. Valuesarereproducedfromthesuppliedsourcedocument.
sources. Themaximumelectricalconductivity(0.65) kg/ha) was recorded in the treatment T1 than the wasrecordedinthetreatmentT8(50%NfromFYM+ othertreatments. Thelowestavailablenitrogenwas 50% N from VC+30 kg/ha S through gypsum). The recordedunderthetreatmentsT8(84.29kg/ha).The lowest EC was recorded in T1 (100 % FYM). Han et meandataofavailablenitrogenpresentedin(Table-1). al., (2016) reported that the electrical conductivity Nitrogen is a key component of enzymes, vitamins, (EC) was increased after the application of organic chlorophyllandothercellconstituents, allofwhich manureandNPKfertilizer,andthehighestelectrical areessentialforcropgrowthanddevelopment. Itis conductivity was observed in the soil treated with thus one of the most important nutrients required the combined organic manure with combination of for tomato crop yield. The application of organic chemicalfertilizers(NPK). manures and inorganic fertilizers increased the
SoilOrganicCarbon resultinginmorenutrientuptakeultimatelyenhanced Soil organic carbon concentration after harvest of thegrowthoftomatocrop. Theseresultsareinline tomatocropincreasedsignificantlyduetocombined with application of different organic sources of nitrogen Sharma et al. (2017) and Sharma et al. (2022) who andsulphur. Themaximumorganiccarbon(0.55%) reportedhighNuptakewithcombinedapplicationof wasrecordedinthetreatmentT6(100%V.C+30kg/ha organicandinorganicfertilizers.
S) and treatment T2 and T8 found lowest organic carbon(Table3&figure3). Thedecreaseinorganic Available-P matterwasfoundincontrol.Islametal.(2013)found Theavailablephosphorusinsoilwassignificantlyinfluthattheshareduseoforganicmanureandchemical encedbytheapplicationofdifferentorganicsources. sourcesamplifiedsoilorganicmattercontent.Munoz Themaximumavailablephosphorus(17.20kg/ha)was et al. (2004), Sharma et al. (2022) and Sharma et recordedinthetreatmentT8(50%FYM+50%VC+30 al. (2016) reported that organic fertilizer sources kg S through gypsum) and minimum value of availsuch as poultry manure, vermicompost, and FYM ablephosphorusT6(100%VC+30kg/haS)followed containalargeamountofnutrientsandorganicmatter by T4 and T9as compared to control (Table-1). The which are beneficial for soil physical, chemical and present study were similar to the findings of Manoj biological properties as well as, soil organic carbon etal.
sequestration. (2020)whoreportedthehighestuptakeandresidual
Available-N ofN,PandKthroughinorganicfertilizersandorganic After harvest of crop the available nitrogen content fertilizer.Ghoshetal.(2014)supporttheresultsofthe in soil was significantly increased due to combined studythattheintegrationoforganicfertilizersalong applicationofnitrogenandsulphurthroughorganic withsyntheticfertilizersresultsintohighestPuptake sources. The maximum available nitrogen (116.67 byplants.
nutrientavailabilityandsoilmicrobialactivitywhich
Abdul et al. (2013), Laxminarayanan, (2004)
(2012),Sharmaetal. (2018)andSharmaetal.
nutrientsavailabilityofN,PandKwiththeapplication
Theavailabilityofpotassiumafterharvestofcropwas significantly increase by the application of different 3.
organicsources. Themaximumavailablepotassium afterthecropharvestunderthetreatmentsT8(175.00 kg/ha)followedbyT6andT5respectively(Table-1).In 4.
thecauseofmorepotassiumuptakeandavailability bytomatoplantsistheeffectoforganicsourcesoffertilizersonsolubilizationmineralizationofpotassium 5.
poolsinthesoil.Sreelathaetal.(2006)andGhoshet al.(2014),Sharmaetal.(2024)andIndoriaetal.(2025) whoshowedthatcombineduseoforganicandmineral fertilizerssignificantlyincreasedtheplantpotassium uptake. 6.
Theavailabilityofsulphurinsoilwassignificantlyinfluencedbytheapplicationofdifferentorganicsources ofsulphurandnitrogen.Themaximumavailablesulphur(15.13ppm)wasrecordedinthetreatmentT0and minimumvalueofavailablesulphurT8(9.47ppm)as comparedtoothertreatments(Table-1).Thesulphur applicationinthesoilpromotedincreasestheuptake andavailabilitySilvaetal.(2014).Similarresultswere alsoreportedbySantoshetal.(2007)andOrmanand Kalpan(2011).
Theintegratedapplicationoforganicnutrientsources (FYM and vermicompost) combined with sulphur significantly influences soil chemical properties.
While soil pH remained stable, key fertility metrics 9.
such as electrical conductivity, organic carbon, and availablemacronutrients(phosphorusandpotassium) improvedmarkedly. Specifically,treatmentT8(50% FYM+50%VC+30kg/haS)provedmosteffectivefor 10.
enhancing electrical conductivity, phosphorus, and potassiumavailability,whereasT6maximizedorganic carbonandT1favoredavailablenitrogen.Therefore, integratednutrientmanagementprovidesaneffective, 11.
sustainable strategy for maintaining soil health and fertility in tomato cultivation in the Bundelkhand region.