Jagroop Kaur, S.S. Mahal and M.S. Kahlon
Abstract
The effect of different sowing methods, mulch levels and irrigation schedules on soil physical properties and nutrient uptake in barley was studied during winter season of 2013-14 and 2014-15 at StudentsÂ’ Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The results showed that bed sowing method registered markedly lower bulk density of 0-15 cm soil layer (2.6%) and soil penetration resistance at 5 cm soil depth (14.2 and 19.6%) and more infiltration rate (8.5 and 9.5%) as compared to flat sowing method during 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively. Similarly, mulch application @ 6 t ha-1 helped in lowering the bulk density (8.7 %) and soil penetration resistance at 5 cm soil depth (55.7 and 44%) and increasing the infiltration rate of water (22.0 and 22.5%) as compared with no mulch application. However, there was no marked effect of different irrigation schedules on soil physical properties. Different sowing methods did not significantly influence the N, P and K content and uptake by grain and straw. Mulch levels had no significant effect on the N, P and K content of grain and straw. But, N uptake by grain and straw was significantly higher under mulch application of 6 t ha-1 than no mulch but statistically at par with 3 t ha-1 mulch application. However, P and K uptake by grain and straw was significantly higher where mulch was applied at the rate of 6 t ha-1 than 3 t ha-1 and with no mulch application during both the years. Among the irrigation schedules, N content of grain was 4.9 and 8.9 percent higher under irrigation schedule of IW/CPE ratio of 0.6 than IW/CPE ratio of 0.8 and 1.0, respectively during 2013-14 and N uptake was not significantly affected by irrigation schedules. P and K contents of grain and straw were not significantly affected by different irrigation schedules and P and K uptake by grain under irrigation schedule of IW/ CPE ratio of 1.0 was 9.3 and 17.3 percent and 4.9 and 9.6 percent, respectively, higher than IW/CPE ratio of 0.8 and 0.6, respectively during 2013-14. However, NPK uptake by straw was not significantly affected by irrigation schedules during both the years.