SOIL QUALITY OF DIFFERENT RICE-BASED CROPPING SYSTEMS IN A DROUGHT AFFECTED BLOCK OF ODISHA, INDIADharmendra Patri, Diparani Samal, Chandan Sahu and Sanjat Kumar SahuAbstract A work was undertaken to assess the soil quality of a drought affected block in Ganjam district of Odisha, India, namely Jagannathprasad, in five rice-based cropping systems viz. Rice-Rice (RR), Rice-Vegetable (RV), Rice-Pulse (RP), Rice-Oilseed (RO) and Rice-Fallow (RF). The results revealed that the soils were primarily red and black in color. On the basis of average value of various soil parameters analyzed, the trends observed for different rice-based cropping systems are: Moisture (%): RR (20.84%) > RV (16.77) > RP (15.10) > RO (14.60) > RF (14.01); pH: RF (6.34) > RF (6.29) > R0 (5.79) > RV (5.74) > RR (5.29); EC (mS/cm): RR (1.75) > RP (1.50) > RV (1.48) > RO (1.19) > RF (0.81); OC (%): RP (0.58) = RO (0.58) > RV (0.51) > RR (0.40) > RF (0.23); N (kg/ha): RP (363) > RO (279) > RR (230) > RV (175) > RF (126); P (kg/ha): RP (25.7) > RO (17.4) > RV (12.3) > RR (8.0) > RF (4.3); K (kg/ha): RP (185) > RO (138.8) > RR (102.8) > RV (68.2) > RF (36.1). The variation in soil parameters were in between the low and medium category according to the standard set by Tandan (1993). Further, from among the rice-based cropping systems, that RP and RO based crop rotation systems seems to be suitable option for cultivation in the drought affected block of Jagannathprasad. Therefore, such crop rotations should be carried out as a part of management practices, not only to restore the fertility of soil, but also to improve the socio-economic condition of farmers in these drought prone areas. |