Effects of long-term (6 years) nutrient management on soil loss and carbon management index principal component analysis approach

Abstract

A long-term (6 years) field experiment was carried out for testing different nutrient management combination in a maize-wheat cropping system to compare the longterm effects on soil loss, crop yield, and system productivity through principal component analysis (PCA) approach. Six treatments {nutrient management practices: T - control; T - recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF - nitrogen, phospho- 1 2 rus, potassium); T - farmyard manure (FYM); T - 50% NPK + 50% FYM; T - 50% 3 4 5 NPK + 50% vermicompost (VC); T - 50% NPK + 50% poultry manure (PM), T - 6 7 50% NPK + 50% green manure (GM) were tested. Results revealed that the soil loss varies from 9.54 to 19.62 t ha-1 with different nutrient management plots. Overall, cluster I- possessed nutrient management practice of 50% NPK + 50% PM and 50% NPK + 50% GM, which are best discernible by their highest mean values of positive influence on soil and CMI parameters, and lowest mean values for negative influencing soil and CMI parameters. Relationships revealed that the single value CMI can be used for the assessment of soil degradation in the sloppy crop lands of Himalaya.