Degraded land can be improved: Scientists

A large chunk of land rendered degraded due to continuous use of chemical fertilisers in rice-wheat cropping system in North India can be improved and the carbon element present in the soil can also be brought back to its initial level by the continuous use of optimum amount of balanced fertilisers and farmyard manure (FYM).

These are the findings of a new research work done in Tarai area of Uttarakhand by the scientists at the prestigious G B Pant University for Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) at Pantnagar under the project ‘Long Term Fertility Experiment’ in 1970s.

Keeping in view the problem of continuous decline in soil fertility and heredity problems, as an after-effect of the first green revolution, ICAR had started All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Long Term Fertiliser Experiment in 17 agricultural universities and colleges in India including GBPUAT.

A member of the department of soil science of Pantnagar university and presently principal investigator of the project, Dr Sri Ram, said that the objectives of this experiment include studying the effect of continuous application of plant nutrients, singly and in combination with organic or inorganic forms on crop yields in multiple cropping system and monitoring the physical, chemical and biological changes in properties of soil.

After 35 years of experiment, it has been found that the status of organic carbon in soil declined to 0.51 from the initial level of 1.48 per cent by not using any fertiliser or manure. Even optimal use of NPK fertiliser could not maintain it. However, integrated use of optimum NPK with 15 tonnes per hectare FYM in rice and wheat improved the soil organic matter and could be brought back to earlier level over the years.