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RESEARCH PAPER
Temperature-mediated soil microbial activity and nutrient availability in wheat under different rice residue management strategies
1
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, India - 125004, India
2
Directorate of Research, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, India
3
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mahendergarh, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, India
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Final revision date: 2025-12-02
Acceptance date: 2025-12-08
Publication date: 2026-03-19
Corresponding author
Pooja Rani
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, 125001, Hisar, India kavitatanwar190@gmail.com
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, 125001, Hisar, India kavitatanwar190@gmail.com
Int. Agrophys. 2026, 40(2): 203-212
HIGHLIGHTS
- Residue incorporation consistently improved soil properties over other options
- Residue burning reduced soil nutrients and enzyme activity
- Improved microbial activity in 2019–20 was due to favorable temperatures
- Microbial activity and nutrient availability peaked at 55 DAS
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The burning of crop residues disrupts essential soil ecosystem functions and significantly depletes total and potentially mineralizable soil nutrients. A field experiment was conducted during the winter season in 2018-19 and 2019-20, with the objective to study the effect of rice residue management options on soil biochemical properties and nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) availability in wheat. The treatments comprised four rice residue management practices (R1: Residue removal, R2: Residue burning, R3: Residue incorporation and R4: Residue retention) in the main plot and five fertilizer doses (F1: Control, F2: 100% N + 50% Recommended dose of P and K (RDPK), F3: 100% N + 75% RDPK, F4: F3+ Waste decomposer and F5:100% RDNPK) in the sub plot. The highest N and P availability was recorded at 25 and 55 days after sowing (DAS), respectively, which declined thereafter in 2018-19, whereas their availability again increased at 115 DAS in the second year. Urease and alkaline phosphatase activity followed a similar trend in both years; however, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and dehydrogenase activity did not increase in 2019-20. This study revealed the impact of residue burning on soil properties where available N, urease activity, MBC, and dehydrogenase activity decreased irrespective of the year. In contrast, available P and alkaline phosphatase activity increased in the second year.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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