Abstract

The study was carried out during 2009 to 2010 on 8 years old pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) trees cv.‘Kandhari Kabuli’ to investigate the conjoint efficiency of bio-organics used along with chemical fertilizers on nutrient availability and physico-chemical and biological properties of soil. Conjoint application of bio-fertilizers 80 g/tree, vermicompost 20 kg/tree, FYM 20 kg/tree, green manure (GM) sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) and recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK), resulted in significantly maximum porosity (60.27%), water holding capacity (WHC) (60.31%), bulk density (0.97%), particle density (2.25%), organic carbon (1.90%), soil pH (6.89), soil N (405.56%), P (22.02%), K (419.00%), Iron (Fe) (66.92 ppm), Maganese (Mn) (61.95 ppm), Zinc (Zn) (2.33 ppm) and Cupper (Cu) (3.25 ppm). The microbial biomass pool in terms of Pseudomonassp, soil fungi, Azotobacter chroococcum, Actinomycetes and Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increased by 385.57, 60.26, 134.19, 168.02 and 39.87%, respectively over the control.

Key words: Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), biofertilisers, farm yard manure (FYM), vermicompost, green manuring.