International Journal of Environment and Climate Change

Imbalanced use of nutrients through fertilizer have a deleterious effects on soil health, leading to unsustainable productivity. The present investigation was carried out to study the comparative effectiveness of compost and crop residue either alone or in combination of chemical fertilizer on physico chemical properties of soil, soil microbial biomass and crop yield in rice-wheat cropping system in Calciorthents at experimental farm of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar in light texture and medium fertile soil. There were sixteen treatments which were replicated thrice in split plot design. Four level of NPK viz., no NPK, 50% NPK, 100% NPK and 150% NPK were kept as main plot treatments whereas four levels of organics viz., no manure, compost @ 10 t ha^-1, crop residue and compost + crop residue were treated as sub-plot treatments. The correlation between rice yield and some physico-chemical and microbial attributes of soil were evaluated. Most of soil physical, chemical and microbiological parameters were positively correlated with grain and straw yield of rice. Thus the results suggest that integrated use of balanced inorganic fertilizers in combination with organic manure sustains a soil physico-chemical and microbiological environment of soil that is better for enhancing higher crop productivity.