Comparative studies on soil fertility status of natural farming and farmers practice in northern dry zone of Karnataka

Abstract

Soil fertility is important as it directly influence the productivity and overall health of the soil.This research wasconducted to study soil fertility status in <5,5-10 and 10-15 years under natural farming and farmers practice at 0-20 cm soildepth in three natural farming clusters of Belagavi district in northern dry zone of Karnataka during 2022-23.This studyrevealed that natural farming had a positive effect on soil fertility. Soil pH and EC decreased in natural farming (8.29 to 8.08,0.47 to 0.41 dS/m), where as it increased in farmers practice from 8.35 to 8.49 (pH),0.49 to0.51 dS/m(EC) and CECincreased from 54.94 to 75.91 c mol(p+)/kg in natural farming but decreased from 50.47 to 42.82 c mol (p+)/kg in farmerspractice. Organic carbon increased in natural farming from 7.11 to 9.63 g/kg but it decreased from 6.12 to 4.24 g/kg in farmerspractice over the years. Available macronutrients and DTPA-extractable micronutrients increased in natural farming butsignificantly decreased in farmers practice over the years. Overall, natural farming showed improvements in soil fertilitywhile farmers practices resulted in decline in soil fertility over the years.