Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PERFORMANCE OF SOYBEAN AND SOIL PROPERTIES UNDER POPLAR BASED AGRO FORESTRY SYSTEM IN TARAI BELT OF UTTARAKHAND, INDIA

Nongmaithem Raju Singh, M.K. Jhariya and R.S. Loushambam

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted in 2012-13 at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar.It was laid out in split plot design with two farming systems (viz., Soybean crop under open farming system and Soybean crop under poplar based agroforestry system) as main plots and four varieties of soybean (PS 1042, PS 1225, PS 1347 & PS 1024) as sub-plots with three replication.Soil pH, EC, organic carbon, available soil nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was significantly higher under poplar based agroforestry system as compared to open farming system. There was mark improvement of 11.65 % (OC), 12.41 % (available P) and 6.20 % available (K) in agroforestry system over open farming system.All the soil nutrients (N, P and K) were found maximum in the plot of PS 1225. The values of nutrients (N, P and K) were higher in upper soil layer (0-15 cm) as compared to (15-30 cm) lower profile soil sample. Growth parameters like germination count, plant height, number of trifoliate leaves per plant and dry matter accumulation were found higher under open farming system as compared to poplar based agro forestry system. However, the nodule numbers in the root of soybean was found higher in poplar based agro forestry system as compared to open farming system. Among soybean varieties maximum germination count was found in PS 1225. Plant height was found higher in PS 1225 at all the growth stages. However, number of trifoliate leaves per plant; number of root nodules per plant and dry matter accumulation were found higher in PS 1225 at all the growth stages.