International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40093-019-0252-z

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Assessment of crop growth, soil properties and crop yield in an upland

acidic soil with inorganic fertilizer blended with organic amendments
in summer rice cropping seasons
Madhumita Ghosh1 · Ashalata Devi1

Received: 23 April 2018 / Accepted: 25 February 2019 / Published online: 14 March 2019
© The Author(s) 2019

Abstract
Purpose Intensification of rice cultivation to meet the growing demand has imbalanced the nitrogen level in soil. Amend-
ments of inorganic fertilizers increase yield, but at the same time affects the environment. Hence, different amendments are
to be investigated which acting sustainably on soil and the environment upholds yield gains.
Methods A study was carried out on acidic sandy loam soil in the irrigated summer seasons of the years of 2015–2016 and
2016–2017 to examine the effects of various amendments on rice growth, soil health and yield. The applied amendments
were inorganic fertilizer blended with crop residues, farm yard manure and compost made of daily household green wastes.
Results The highest yield of 53.33 ± 2.09 Q/ha was recorded with application of inorganic fertilizer blended with compost
and the lowest yield of 32.71 ± 3.09 Q/ha without amendment. Strong positive correlations were found between soil moisture
and volumetric water content (0.982 at p < 0.001), manganese and copper (0.900 at p < 0.001), whereas available phosphorus
and manganese showed a strong negative correlation (− 0.901 at p < 0.001). Performing stepwise regression analysis, yield
was found affected mostly by soil moisture and total carbon out of evaluated 17 soil traits.
Conclusion The inorganic fertilization blended with the compost increased rice yield by 13.61% over inorganic fertilizer but
a higher yield associated with compost demoted total nitrogen contents in soil, leading to lower soil nitrogen fertility and
providing a negative feedback to sustainable agriculture. More research is required on compost development and application
in different rice agroecosystems.

Keywords Inorganic fertilizer · Organic amendments · Soil properties · Rice field

Introduction cultivating high yielding rice varieties and going forward

with instructions issued by governments.
Rice (Oryza sativa Lin.) is the most demanding cereal in The application of nitrogen fertilizer promotes the rice
the world. It appears as an indispensable food for more than yield, but it also has unfavourable effects on the environ-
50% of the world’s population. Its requirement is increas- ment and soil health (Leip et al. 2014). One of the most
ing rapidly for fulfilling the demand of ever growing human common steps taken in the direction of maintaining soil
population. To meet this rising demand, different approaches health and environment is the use of organic fertilizers.
are being practised, such as boosting rice production with Such fertilizers provide essential nutrients to soil, and also
the application of different fertilizers (Cassman et al. 1998), improve other soil properties, such as water-holding capac-
ity, nutrient-holding capacity and microbial activity of soil.
However, a huge volume of organic fertilizer is required for
achieving potential of high yielding rice varieties, which
* Madhumita Ghosh will directly step up the cost of farming (Baruah and Baruah
[email protected] 2015; Baruah et al. 2016). In addition, the decomposition
Ashalata Devi of an organic matter under humid tropical condition is rela-
[email protected] tively hasty and its gathering is minimal in upland irrigated
1
Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur University, soils.
Tezpur 784 028, India

13
Vol.:(0123456789)
S2 International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9

Hence, a balanced approach that can be used to sustain- concealing the mixture for 2 months in a ditch under ambi-
ably improve rice yield and soil quality is to apply wastes ent air temperature.
produced from kitchen, garden and farm (crop residues and In the field experiment, 6 treatments were replicated 4
farm yard manure) in combination with inorganic fertilizers. times in a random block design (RBD), for which a total of
The application of such a blended amendment will have a 24 plots were prepared in 4 parallel blocks. Each plot was
greater chance to endure a fairly lofty amount of nutrients 2 m × 2 m in size. A gap of 50 cm wide was left between
required for a high yielding rice variety and also to improve two adjacent plots for preventing intermixing of amend-
soil traits. Moreover, composting of eco-friendly organic ments. The six treatments were marked by T1 through
wastes is a good option to provide a high-quality green ferti- T6 as follows: T1 = No amendment, T2 = NPK (inorganic
lizer as a supplement to inorganic fertilizer. The use of com- fertilizer), T3 = NPK + crop residue of 5 t/ha (ton per
post increases organic carbon and moisture retention ability hectare), T4 = NPK + farm yard manure (FYM) of 5 t/ha,
of soil, while decreases its bulk density. Soil organic carbon T5 = NPK + FYM of 10 t/ha, and T6 = NPK + compost of
and total nitrogen act as basic elements of green agriculture 2.5 t/ha. Although the package of practices published by the
(Franzluebbers and Stuedemann 2009). Hence, restoration Government of Assam recommends to apply 10 t/ha FYM
of soil organic carbon is required for enhancing rice produc- during field preparation (Anonymous 2015), treatment T4
tion by maintaining soil quality, and also to raise the soil was considered to assess the impact of its half (i.e., 5 t/ha).
carbon store to decrease the release of carbon dioxide from Along with the amendments as per the field layout, urea,
soil. On the other hand, the renewal of nitrogen is desirable single superphosphate (SSP) and muriate of potash (MOP)
for lowering the need of nitrogen fertilizers by avoiding the were applied in the ratio of 60:30:30 as the NPK (inorganic
percolation of nitrogen and release of nitrous oxide to the fertilizer). Fifty percent (50%) of the portion of urea was
atmosphere. added with the whole portions of SSP and MOP as the basal
Motivated by above, a field trial was undertaken with fertilizer, 25% was applied in the middle of the tillering stage
the rice variety of Naveen in the summer cropping season. and the remaining 25% was applied in the panicle initia-
With the aim of enhancing rice production, the investigation tion stage of active vegetative growth of rice. The moisture
was concentrated on studying the effects of organic waste- contents in the organic materials (crop residue, FYM and
blended inorganic fertilizer on rice growth, soil properties compost) and the corresponding C:N ratios at the time of the
and rice yield. Finally, the cloud of data related to plant application of the amendments were assessed as (12.70%,
growth, soil properties and rice yield were analyzed through 48.97), (46.94%, 14.41) and (35.49%, 10.58), respectively.
statistical tools to identify the soil attributes affecting the Approved seedlings of 35 days old of Naveen rice variety
yielding of rice. were gathered from the Regional Agriculture Research Sta-
tion, Nagaon, and they were transplanted manually in row
to row of 20 cm × 20 cm and plant to plant spacing of 20 cm
Materials and methods with two seedlings per hill. The field was irrigated twice a
week as per a scheme of intermittent irrigation. The plots
Experimental design and field management were irrigated in a way to hold 5 cm of standing water until
panicles initiated. Manual weeding, application of insecti-
A 2-year field trial in the summer rice cropping system was cides and pesticides were also done regularly as per the sug-
performed on an experimental site inside the Tezpur Univer- gestion set out by the Government of Assam.
sity Campus (26°41′ N, 92°50′ E) situated in the north bank
plain zone of Agroclimatic division of Assam in India. The Plant sampling and analysis
area is under moist subtropical monsoon climate. The study
period was from the last week of February to the third week Plant height is obtained from the plants of three hills
of June in the years of 2016 and 2017. Before starting the selected from three random plots per amendment, excluding
experiment, the physico-chemical properties of the soil were the boarder hills of the plots. The plant height was measured
determined using applicable methods. from the stem base of a plant to the tip of its longest leaf or
Two months prior to the starting of the field trial, the panicle, whichever was longer.
compost was prepared using eco-friendly organic waste In the case of biomass, a destructive sampling of three
materials. For this, a mixture was prepared first with kitchen plants per amendment was collected and removed the
wastes (peels of vegetables and fruits, rotten vegetables, stuck soil by washing with water. Separating the roots,
leftover cooked food, used tea leaves, etc.), garden wastes shoots and leaves of the plants, they were dried in an oven
(grasses and bushes) and farm waste (cow dung manure) at 75 ± 2 °C temperature until their constant weights were
in the ratio of 1:2:2. Then, the compost was formed by obtained. Those dried weights were their respective biomass

13
International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9 S3

values, i.e., root biomass, shoot biomass and leaf biomass, In addition, using the average yield of 2 years of experimen-
respectively. tation, the partial factor productivity and nitrogen agronomic
efficiency were calculated through the formulae given by
Soil sampling and analysis Guo et al. (2017) and yield contribution of nitrogen was
calculated through the formula given by Tian et al. (2017).
For determining the properties of the initial soil, a composite
soil sample was prepared by mixing soil samples collected Statistical analysis
from four different sites of the experimental field. For the
properties of the soil after the experiment, another compos- In the statistical software package SPSS (version 15), one-
ite soil sample was prepared by collecting soil samples after way ANOVA was conducted to investigate if any signifi-
harvest from three plots per amendment. In both cases, soil cant difference exists among the calculated mean values of
samples were obtained from a depth of 0–15 cm using an the crop growth, soil property and yield-related parameters
iron probe of 2 cm diameter. under different amendments. The Tukey’s HSD test was also
Soil moisture (SM) content was measured from a portion performed for identifying the mean values under amend-
of each composite sample using the gravimetric method. For ments T2 through T6, which are significantly different from
obtaining other soil properties, the remaining portion of the the corresponding mean values under amendment T1. Fur-
composite sample was first dried in open air, then grounded, ther, the PCA (principal component analysis) tool of SPSS
and finally passed through a sieve having pores 2 mm in was used to identify the correlated soil properties and to iso-
size. The concentration of soil organic carbon (SOC) was late the disparate ones. Next, the stepwise linear regression
evaluated through the potassium dichromate oxidation pro- was performed for relating rice yield with the applicable soil
cess conceived by Walkly and Black (1934). Total nitrogen properties, i.e., to investigate how soil properties influence
(TN) and total carbon (TC) in soil were estimated by a car- rice yielding.
bon hydrogen nitrogen (CHN) analyser (model: 2400 series
2, USA). The soil catalase activity (CAT) was determined
using the method provided by Zhang et al. (2012). The avail-
able nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium Results and discussion
in the soil were evaluated using the method proposed by
Page et al. (1982). The iron, copper, manganese and zinc The soil texture of the experimental site was sandy and
were first extracted by diethylene-triamine-pentaacetic acid slightly acidic having pH value of 5.6. The SM and BD val-
(DTPA) and then quantified through a mass spectrophotom- ues were found to be 36.7% and 1.31 g/cm3, respectively.
eter (Model: Perkin Elmer Optima 2100DV). The physico-chemical properties of the soil in detail are
For obtaining the soil bulk density (BD), three soil cores, presented in Table 1.
each of 15 cm in length and 5 cm in diameter, were taken
from plots under each treatment, and dried at 105 °C temper- Crop growth
ature. Then, BD for each core was calculated by dividing the
difference in its initial and dried weights by the core volume. For the data pooled from the summer cropping seasons of
Then, the average of the BD values of the three cores under the years of 2016 and 2017, the variations in the plant mor-
a treatment is taken as the ultimate BD under the treatment. phological attributes under different treatments are shown in
Finally, the volumetric water content (VWC) and water- Table 2, where it is observed that the amendments brought
filled pore space were calculated from the obtained SM and noticeable changes in the growth of the rice plants.
BD values using the formula proposed by Brzezinska et al. The plant height during the crop growth period increased
(2005). almost equally under all the amendments, recoding the maxi-
mum of (106.40 ± 0.30) cm under T2 and the minimum of
(80.36 ± 0.31) cm under T1 at the final stage (i.e., at harvest).
Yield and yield‑related parameters Treatment T2 contained only NPK, which released nutrients
speedily causing the plants to grow faster.
From three random plots under each treatment, an area of Unlike plant height, the number of tillers per hill showed
1 m × 1 m was chosen from each plot for determining pro- a growing trend from the tillering stage to the flowering
ductive tillers and sterility percentage. The matured grains stage and then decreased at the harvest, showing the highest
containing 14% moisture were harvested from the areas, and value of 18 ± 0.57 under T6 and the lowest value of 9 ± 0.57
then the harvest index was calculated using the formula as under T1. The result was similar to that of Yung-Yu (2005),
given by Liu et al. (2013). Further, the panicle length, filled where a rice pot experiment was performed with two differ-
grain and weight of thousand grains were also determined. ent composts.

13
S4 International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9

Table 1  Soil physico-chemical properties (mean ± standard deviation) The number of leaves per hill showed a similar trend like
of the experimental site (at 0–15 cm depth) before starting the experi- the number of tillers per hill, increased from the tillering
ment
stage to the flowering and then decreased at the harvest. The
Property Value maximum of 40 ± 0.33 number of leaves were found under
T5 and the minimum of 24 ± 0.33 under T1 at the harvest.
Sand (%) 60.5 ± 0.61
Increasing trend in root length was noticed under T2–T4
Slit (%) 20.2 ± 0.82
and T6 in the period in between the tillering and flower-
Clay (%) 19.3 ± 0.96
ing stages, and under T1, T3 and T5 at the harvest; while a
Moisture (%) 36.7 ± 2.64
decreasing trend under T2, T4 and T6 at the harvest. Such
Bulk density (Mg/m3) 1.31 ± 0.10
trends of variation in the root length indicate that the soil
Porosity (%) 50.60 ± 1
faced alternate wetting and drying.
Volumetric water content (%) 48.04 ± 1
Due the above-stated trends in the growth of the plants,
Water-filled pore space (%) 94.94 ± 1
there were significant differences in both above and below
pH 5.6 ± 0.67
ground biomass under different amendments in comparison
Organic carbon (%) 1.59 ± 0.71
to those under T1 during the investigation of all the three
Total carbon (g/kg) 20.7 ± 2.07
cropping stages (tillering, flowering and harvest stages).
Total nitrogen (g/kg) 6.0 ± 0.01
Both above and below ground biomass showed uprising
Available nitrogen (kg/ha) 212.0 ± 6.99
trends from the tillering stage to the flowering stage under
Available phosphorus (kg/ha) 12.15 ± 4.52
all the six treatments; while decreasing trends at the harvest
Available potassium (kg/ha) 70.65 ± 8.90
were shown by the above ground biomass under T2 and T4,
Micronutrients
and by the below ground biomass under T1–T3. Both above
Iron (mg/kg) 23.1 ± 2.01
and below ground biomass attained their maximum values
Copper (mg/kg) 1.75 ± 0.1
under T5 and minimum values under T1.
Zinc (mg/kg) 0.74 ± 0.01
Manganese (mg/kg) 3.40 ± 0.1

Table 2  Variation in plant morphological attributes (mean ± standard error) under different treatments in a 2-year field experiment in the summer
cropping seasons (Tukey’s HSD test at significance level of 5%)
Treatment Growth stage Height (cm/hill) Tiller number/hill Leaf number/hill Root length (cm/hill) Above ground Below ground
biomass (g/hill) biomass (g/hill)

T1 Tillering 30.10 ± 0.05 8 ± 0.57 19 ± 1.20 5.4 ± 0.12 0.68 ± 0.01 0.19 ± 0.01
T2 41.5 ± 0.28* 12 ± 0.57 28 ± 1.85* 5.03 ± 0.88 1.41 ± 0.02* 0.26 ± 0.01*
T3 42.10 ± 0.05* 18 ± 0.88* 37 ± 0.88* 4.96 ± 1.20 1.79 ± 0.01* 0.35 ± 0.01*
T4 39.10 ± 0.05* 13 ± 0.33* 35 ± 0.33* 4.30 ± 0.05* 1.85 ± 0.01* 0.44 ± 0.01
T5 60.26 ± 0.12* 14 ± 1.20* 42 ± 0.88* 8.16 ± 0.88* 2.50 ± 0.01* 0.65 ± 0.01*
T6 39.36 ± 0.27* 12 ± 0.88* 33 ± 1.80* 7.16 ± 0.88* 1.85 ± 0.01* 0.47 ± 0.00*
T1 Flowering 74.10 ± 0.49 11 ± 0.57 47 ± 0.57 5.3 ± 0.08 14.35 ± 0.01 2.14 ± 0.00
T2 79.23 ± 0.38* 16 ± 0.33* 51 ± 0.57* 10.16 ± 0.16* 43.76 ± 0.01* 3.20 ± 0.01*
T3 92.50 ± 0.05* 14 ± 0.00* 64 ± 0.33* 8.10 ± 0.10* 35.92 ± 0.04* 3.21 ± 0.01*
T4 87.00 ± 0.57* 18 ± 0.33* 67 ± 0.33* 11.23 ± 0.25* 39.12 ± 0.28* 3.94 ± 0.01*
T5 94.00 ± 0.57* 17 ± 0.66* 63 ± 0.33* 5.10 ± 0.10 24.11 ± 0.01* 2.54 ± 0.01*
T6 92.00 ± 0.57* 20 ± 0.33* 68 ± 0.33* 11.46 ± 0.05* 35.90 ± 0.01* 4.49 ± 0.01*
T1 Harvest 80.36 ± 0.31 9 ± 0.57 24 ± 0.33 8 ± 0.25 24.62 ± 0.21 1.87 ± 0.01
T2 106.40 ± 0.30* 11 ± 0.33 34 ± 0.57* 10 ± 0.26* 39.64 ± 0.74* 3.05 ± 0.02*
T3 93.43 ± 0.64* 17 ± 0.57* 36 ± 0.33* 9 ± 0.05* 44.90 ± 0.34* 4.39 ± 0.10*
T4 98.43 ± 0.31* 15 ± 0.57* 20 ± 0.33* 8 ± 0.05 34.16 ± 0.41* 2.67 ± 0.00*
T5 107.83 ± 0.44* 14 ± 0.88* 40 ± 0.33* 11 ± 0.11* 55.55 ± 0.17* 3.15 ± 0.01*
T6 104.50 ± 0.28* 18 ± 0.57* 36 ± 0.33* 6 ± 0.10* 56.71 ± 0.24* 6.82 ± 0.06*

Values with * in the same column are significantly different from the corresponding value under T1 of each growth stage. T1: No amendment,
T2: NPK, T3: NPK + crop residue (5 t/ha), T4: NPK + farm yard manure (5 t/ha), T5: NPK + farm yard manure (10 t/ha), T6: NPK + compost
(2.5 t/ha)

13
International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9 S5

Soil properties

Values (mean) with * in the same column are significantly different. T1: No amendment, T2: NPK, T3: NPK + crop residue (5 t/ha), T4: NPK + farm yard manure (5 t/ha), T5: NPK + farm yard
Table 3  Variation in soil properties under different amendments at the harvest treatments in a 2-year field experiment in the summer cropping seasons (Tukey’s HSD test at significance level of

(mg/kg)
Copper

0.592
2.72
2.52
3.04
2.40
2.50
2.46
The variations in soil properties at the harvest under differ-
ent amendments are shown in Table 3, where it is observed

(mg/kg)
that the soil under T6 (compost-blended amendment) had

0.995
ganese

11.81
11.64
11.79
9.30
11.37
11.65
Man-

the best/highest values of soil moisture (SM), volumetric

water content (VWC), soil catalase activity (CAT), soil
(mg/kg)

organic carbon (SOC), and iron and manganese; while

0.000
Zinc

0.91
0.88
0.96
0.79
0.89
0.89
their lowest values occurred in the soil under T1. Also, the
best/highest value of pH was found under T6 and its lowest
(mg/kg)

under T3. The soil bulk density was the best/lowest under

0.665
22.00*
21.39*
19.23*
20.03*
20.39*
15.09
Iron

T6 (also under T5), and the highest under T2. Moreover,

the maximum and minimum values of available phospho-

0.008
94.99*
(kg/ha)

119.26
93.34
102.56
79.78
114.93

rus were found under T3 and T4, respectively. Further,

Avail-

potas-
sium
able

T1 showed the lowest values of total nitrogen (TN), total

carbon (TC), available nitrogen (N), available phosphorus
(kg/ha)

0.745
phorus

(P), available potassium (K), zinc and copper also, with

Avail-

11.35
10.74
12.31
10.90
11.42
13.00
phos-
able

their better/highest values occurring under other amend-

ments out of T2–T5. It is to be mentioned that different
nitrogen

307.50*
0.000
309.83*
295.00*
285.83*
305.00*
(kg/ha)

226.00

organic materials, used as composting materials, release

Avail-
able

different nutrients, e.g., Laos et al. (2000) and Kowalijiow

and Mazzarino (2007) found higher release of phospho-
0.009
nitrogen carbon
(mg/g)

rus by the compost prepared with fish bio-solid as one of

23.56
22.75
22.90
19.58
18.28
21.83
Total

the constituents, and Watanabe et al. (2018) found higher

release of total carbon by the compost prepared with straw
0.306
(g/kg)

as one of the constituents.

10.31
9.70
8.76
12.31
9.35
8.93
Total

The best SM and VWC under the compost-blended T6

directly supported the work of Zemanek (2011). The pres-
organic

0.000
15.63*
16.93*
14.38*
carbon
(g/kg)

ence of higher SM and VWC in compost enhances the

14.86
13.22
11.70
Soil

microbial activity, which helps in the growth of crops by

releasing easily absorbable nutrients.
catalase
activity
(ml/g)

0.316

The finding of the best bulk density under T6 (also

0.34
0.35
0.23
0.35
0.33
0.31
Soil

under T5) and the worst under T2 was in the line of the
work of (Gudadhe et al. 2015), who reported that the effect
content

43.65*
0.030
moisture metric

38.39
36.31
33.33
40.38
39.71
Volu-

of organic blended inorganic fertilizer on bulk density is

water

(%)

more pronounced than that of inorganic fertilizer alone.

Further, Santhy et al. (1999) also found that the applica-
38.87*
0.057
34.00
33.76
32.24
29.54
34.57

tion of organic manure in a blended experiment reduces the

Soil

(%)

bulk density. The fact is that the organic carbon contained in

organic materials reduces bulk density when such materials
ance (µS/ (mg/m3)
conduct- density

manure (10 t/ha), T6: NPK + compost (2.5 t/ha)

are used as a fertilizer.

0.036
Electrical Bulk

1.12
1.12
1.16
1.13
1.13
1.17

As the addition of organic materials to soil channels the

accumulation of extra carbon (Bharali et al. 2017; Baruah
0.404

and Baruah 2015; Kirkby et al. 2013), SOC was found

30.83
28.66
40.83
34.33
45.00
37.33
cm)

enhanced under T3, T5 and T6, i.e., under the inorganic

fertilizer blended with organic materials. The increased
potential

0.907
122.83
112.50
126.00
124.00
118.33
125.66
Redox

SOC helps microbes to provide nutrients to plants by keep-

(mV)

ing carbon and nitrogen balanced in soil, otherwise microbes

would decompose existing organic carbon of the soil (Fon-
0.262
5.15
4.98
4.93
4.90
4.79
4.73
pH

taine et al. 2004; Murphy et al. 2015; Poeplau et al. 2017).

The SOC was found increased under inorganic T2 also,
p value

which might be due to the fact that the application of urea

Treat-
ment
5%)

T5
T6
T3
T4
T1
T2

13
S6 International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9

assimilated carbon by improving leaf, shoot and root bio- Table 4  Soil properties obtained through the principal component
masses of rice plants (Liu et al. 2017; Ge et al. 2016; Zhu analysis (PCA) with the Varimax rotation method by satisfying the
Kasier–Meyer–Olkin and Bartlett’s tests
et al. 2018).
The highest available nitrogen was found under T4, which Component 1 2 3 4
lowered the uptake of nutrients by the plants, thus lowered
Eigenvalue 7.434 3.391 1.998 1.25
the rice yield in comparison to that under T2, T5 and T6.
% Variance 43.731 19.946 11.751 7.39
On the other hand, the total nitrogen replenished through T2,
Cumulative variance % 43.73 63.67 75.43 82.82
T5 and T6 was enough to balance the nutrients absorbed by
Rotated component matrix
the rice plants.
pH − 0.816 0.212 − 0.167 0.260
There was reduction in electrical conductance under
Eh 0.844 − 0.148 0.334 − 0.011
T3–T6 in comparison to that under T2, which was in the
Ec 0.448 − 0.168 0.626 0.016
lines of the findings by Claassen and Carey (2007), Walia
BD 0.228 − 0.073 0.324 − 0.824
et al. (2010) and Al-Bataina et al. (2016) from experiments
SM − 0.723 0.561 − 0.179 − 0.003
with organic material-blended inorganic fertilizers. The
VWC − 0.704 0.564 − 0.122 − 0.165
reduction in electrical conductance under organic material-
CAT​ 0.240 0.089 0.904 0.074
blended inorganic fertilizers slow down the release of dis-
SOC 0.325 0.700 0.395 0.098
solved nutrients than that under pure inorganic fertilizer,
TN 0.038 − 0.017 0.241 0.746
which helps plants to get nutrients progressively over their
TC − 0.217 0.320 0.643 0.540
growing period. Performing the statistical Pearson correla-
N − 0.137 0.873 0.212 0.024
tion test with a significance level of 0.1%, a strong posi-
P − 0.855 0.230 − 0.225 − 0.068
tive correlation was found between SM and VWC with the
K 0.457 0.199 0.645 − 0.237
correlation coefficient of 0.982, and between manganese
Cu 0.917 0.142 0.141 − 0.150
and copper with the correlation coefficient of 0.900. The
Fe − 0.145 0.931 − 0.132 0.072
reason of it is that an increase in pH increases SM and
Mn 0.888 − 0.042 0.400 − 0.094
VWC along with decreasing both redox potential (Eh) and
Zn 0.889 0.354 − 0.137 − 0.153
electric conductance (EC), which in turn increase the avail-
ability of potassium, manganese, copper and zinc. A sig- Eh redox potential; EC electrical conductance; BD bulk density; SM
nificant positive correlation with the correlation coefficient soil moisture; VWC volumetric water content; CAT​soil catalase activ-
ity; SOC soil organic carbon; TN total carbon; TC total carbon; N
of 0.518 was found between TN and TC also, which indi- nitrogen; P phosphorus; K potassium; Cu copper; Fe iron; Mn man-
cates balanced fertilization in soil retaining enough mois- ganese; Zn zinc
ture for decomposition of organic materials to SOC. On the
other hand, available phosphorus and manganese showed a
strong negative correlation with the correlation coefficient which indicated the mineralization/immobilization ability
of − 0.901. The CAT also showed negative relations with of the soil affecting BD of soil on the fourth component of
SOC (having correlation coefficient of − 0.291) and VWC PCA.
(having correlation coefficient of − 0.237), which was due
to the fact that an increase in VWC shifts microflora from Crop yield
aerobic to anaerobic ones and ultimately decreases the CAT
(Brzezinska et al. 2005). The results obtained from PCA are The rice yields and yield-attributing parameters obtained
summarized in Table 4 and also visualized in Fig. 1, where in the field experiment are presented in Table 5, where it is
only those components having eigenvalues more than 1 are observed that the lowest yield of (32.71 ± 3.09) Q/ha was
shown as they address 82.82% of the total variance. The found under T1 and the highest yield of (53.33 ± 2.09) Q/
first component of PCA (Component 1 in Fig. 1) showed ha under T6. The absorption of a higher level of nitrogen
strong correlations with pH, Eh, EC, SM, VWC, P, K, Cu, (C:N = 10.58) by plants under T6 increased grain yields,
Mn and Zn, where decrease in SM and VWC means a drop which on the other side reduced the total nitrogen con-
in the availability of P (phosphorus). Similarly, hydrogen tents in the soil under T6. There was no statistical mean-
ions (pH) and flow of electrons (Eh and EC), linked to dis- ingful contrast in yield under T3 (NPK + crop residue)
solved materials, determine the availability of micronu- and T4 (NPK + 5 t/ha FYM. On the other hand, the yield
trients (Cu, Mn and Zn). The second component of PCA under T4 (NPK + 5 t/ha FYM) was less than that under T5
(Component 2 in Fig. 1) correlated AN and Fe, where the (NPK + 10 t/ha FYM), which was due to the fact that the
high correlation value with AN indicates the application of increased FYM enhanced soil properties. However, the effi-
fertilizer. Finally, the third component of PCA (Component ciency of T2 (inorganic fertilizer NPK) could be enhanced
3 in Fig. 1) showed positive correlation with TN and TC, only under T5 (NPK + FYM) and T6 (NPK + compost).

13
International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9 S7

regression analysis proposed by Kosaki et al. (1989) was

employed for evaluating the soil parameters which signifi-
cantly contributed on rice yielding. Conducting the analysis
with 17 soil parameters, only 2 of them (soil moisture and
total carbon) were found affecting the rice yield significantly.
About 70.4% variation in yield could be explained by soil
moisture and additional 11.4% by incorporating total carbon
with soil moisture. As soil moisture was found to enhance
rice yield on a large degree, the dryness of soil in the sum-
mer season lessened the rice production in the experimental
site.

Conclusion

Performing a 2-year field experiment on an acidic sandy

loom soil under moist subtropical monsoon climate, rice
Fig. 1  Component plot of the principal component analysis (PCA) yield could be improved through the application of NPK
with the Varimax rotation method. Eh, redox potential; Ec, electrical blended separately with organic crop residue, farm yard
conductance; BD, bulk density; SM, soil moisture; VWC, volumetric manure and compost made of bio-degradable household
water content; CAT, soil catalase activity; SOC, soil organic carbon;
TN, total nitrogen; TC, total carbon; N, nitrogen; P, phosphorus; K, wastes. The highest yield was recorded under NPK blended
potassium; Cu, copper; Fe, iron; Mn, manganese; Zn, zinc with the compost, while the moisture and total carbon of the
soil were found having significant positive impact on rice
yielding. Various soil properties were also found improved
Further, T5 was better than T6 in terms of many soil prop- from the application of organic materials with NPK. Further
erties (refer Table 3). Still T5 cannot be considered as the research may be carried out to investigate if such effects can
finest fertilization practice in an acidic sandy soil, but T6 be maintained in a sustainable way on large-scale application
which showed better nitrogen-based factors (Table 6). as well as for a longer period of time.
To optimize yield, it is necessary to identify the factors
which affect the yielding and also the extents of their influ- Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Crea-
tive Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creat​iveco​
ences on yielding. However, no acceptable procedure has
mmons​.org/licen​ses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribu-
been established so far to analyze the yield-determining fac- tion, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate
tors. The progression of plants and their net productivity credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the
in an ecosystem are usually evaluated by interacting differ- Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
ent attributes. In the present study, the method of stepwise

Table 5  Effect of amendments on crop yield and its related attributes in a 2-year field experiment in the summer cropping seasons (Tukey’s HSD
test at significance level of 5%)

Treatment Productive till- Sterile tillers Panicle length Filled grain Thousand High-density Harvest index Yield (Q/ha)
ers/m2 (%) (cm) (%) grain weight grains (%) (%)
(g)

T1 200.16 ± 14.46 19.13 ± 0.52 20.78 ± 0.24 54.30 ± 4.39 17.50 ± 4.39 48.12 ± 6.03 21.81 ± 1.19 32.71 ± 3.09
T2 272.50 ± 6.29 15.13 ± 1.35 23.40 ± 0.32 72.79 ± 4.01 17.93 ± 0.50 60.73 ± 2.76 25.59 ± 1.01 46.07 ± 4.31
T3 244.66 ± 4.21 10.26 ± 1.33 24.91 ± 0.38 79.35 ± 2.12 17.24 ± 0.61 60.86 ± 2.76 25.67 ± 0.88 43.40 ± 4.06
T4 244.66 ± 6.86 14.25 ± 1.32 23.57 ± 0.44 80.04 ± 2.76 17.97 ± 1.29 70.53 ± 2.40 27.86 ± 1.16 43.63 ± 4.14
T5 246.66 ± 5.72 13.57 ± 2.16 23.65 ± 0.73 78.28 ± 2.51 19.19 ± 0.53* 71.26 ± 3.25 27.01 ± 0.93 47.46 ± 2.51
T6 251.00 ± 2.95 11.74 ± 0.71 23.85 ± 0.77 82.63 ± 2.75 21.02 ± 0.47 73.66 ± 2.07 26.60 ± 1.27 53.33 ± 2.09

Values (mean ± standard error) with * in the same column are significantly different. T1, No amendment, T2, NPK; T3, NPK + crop residue (5 t/
ha); T4, NPK + farm yard manure (5 t/ha); T5, NPK + farm yard manure (10 t/ha); T6, NPK + compost (2.5 t/ha)

13
S8 International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9

Table 6  Evaluation of amendments in the perspective of N partial microbial groups depends on N fertilization. Biol Fertil Soils
factor productivity (­PFPN), N agronomic efficiency (­AEN), increased 53:37–48. https​://doi.org/10.1007/s0037​4-016-1155-z
yield over T2 and yield contribution of N (­YCN), using mean data Gudadhe N, Dhonde MB, Hirwe NA (2015) Effect of integrated
obtained from a 2-year field experiment in the summer cropping sea- nutrient management on soil properties under cotton-chickpea
sons cropping sequence in vertisols of Deccan plateau of India.
Indian J Agric Res 49(3):207–214. https​://doi.org/10.5958/0976-
Treatment PFPN (kg/kg) AEN (kg/kg) Increased YCN (%) 058x.2015.00032​.3
yield (%) over Guo S, Xu X, Gao L, Xie K, Ling N, Shen Q, Hu S, Guo S (2017) The
T2 rice production practices of high yield and high nitrogen use effi-
ciency in Jiangsu, China. Sci Rep. https​://doi.org/10.1038/s4159​
T1 – – − 40.84 – 8-017-02338​-3
T2 52.27 14.77 – 28.26 Kirkby CA, Richardson AE, Wade LJ, Batten GD, Blanchard C,
T3 35.24 8.19 − 6.15 23.25 Kirkegaard JA (2013) Carbon-nutrient stoichiometry to increase
T4 41.70 10.42 − 5.59 25.00 soil carbon sequestration. Soil Biol Biochem 60:77–86. https​://
doi.org/10.1016/j.soilb​io.2013.01.011
T5 38.21 11.38 2.92 29.78 Kosaki T, Wasno K, Juo ASR (1989) Multivariate statistical analysis
T6 56.34 21.18 13.61 37.73 of yield determining factors. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 35(4):597–607.
https​://doi.org/10.1080/00380​768.1989.10434​795
T1, No amendment; T2, NPK; T3, NPK + crop residue (5 t/ha); T4, Kowalijiow E, Mazzarino MJ (2007) Soil restoration in semiarid
NPK + farm yard manure (5 t/ha); T5, NPK + farm yard manure (10 t/ Patagonia: chemical and biological response to different com-
ha); T6, NPK + compost (2.5 t/ha) post quality. Soil Biol Biochem 39(7):1580–1588. https​://doi.
org/10.1016/j.soilb​io.2007.01.008
Laos F, Satti P, Walter I, Mazzarino MJ, Moyano S (2000) Nutrient
References availability of composted and noncomposted residues in a Patago-
nian Xeric Mollisol. Biol Fertil Soils 31(6):462–469. https​://doi.
Al-Bataina BB, Young TM, Ranieri E (2016) Effects of compost age org/10.1007/s0037​40000​192
on the release of nutrients I. Soil Water Conser Res 4(3):230–236. Leip A, Weiss F, Lesschen J, Westhoek H (2014) The nitrogen footprint
https​://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr​.2016.07.003 of food products in the European Union. J Agric Sci 152:20–33.
Anonymous (2015) Package of practices for Rabi crops of Assam, https​://doi.org/10.1017/S0021​85961​30007​86
published jointly by Assam Agricultural University Jorhat and Liu L, Hu C, Olesen JE, Ju Z, Yang P, Zhang Y (2013) Warming and
Department of Agriculture, Assam. https​://dirag​ri.assam​.gov.in/ nitrogen fertilization effects on winter wheat yields in northern
portl​et-inner​page/packa​ge-of-pract​ices. Accessed 02 Feb 2018 China varied between 4 years. Field Crop Res 151:56–64. https​://
Baruah A, Baruah KK (2015) Organic manures and crop residues doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2013.07.006
as fertilizer substitutes: impact on nitrous oxide emission, plant Liu Z, Rong Q, Zhou W, Liang G (2017) Effects of inorganic and
growth and grain yield in pre-monsoon rice cropping system. J organic amendment on soil chemical properties, enzyme activi-
Environ Prot 6:755–770. https​://doi.org/10.4236/jep.2015.67069​ ties, microbial community and soil quality in yellow clayey
Baruah A, Baruah KK, Gorh D, Gupta PK (2016) Effect of organic res- soil. PLoS ONE 12(3):e0172767. https​://doi.org/10.1371/journ​
idues with varied carbon-nitrogen ratios on grain yield, soil health, al.pone.01727​67
and nitrous oxide emission from a rice agroecosystem. Commun Murphy CJ, Baggs EM, Morley N, Wall DP, Paterson E (2015) Rhizo-
Soil Sci Plant Anal 47:1417–1429. https​://doi.org/10.1080/00103​ sphere priming can promote mobilisation of N-rich compounds
624.2016.11787​64 from soil organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem 81:236–243. https​://
Bharali A, Baruah KK, Bhattacharyy P, Gorh D (2017) Integrated doi.org/10.1016/j.soilb​io.2014.11.027
nutrient management in wheat grown in a northeast India soil: Page AL, Miller RH, Keeney DR (1982) Methods of soil analysis Part
impacts on soil organic carbon fractions in relation to grain 2. Soil Sci Soc Am, Madison
yield. Soil Till Res 168:81–91. https​://doi.org/10.1016/j.still​ Poeplau C, Reiter L, Berti A, Katterer T (2017) Qualitative and quan-
.2016.12.001 titative response of soil organic carbon to 40 years of crop residue
Brzezinska M, Włodarczyk T, Stepniewski W, Przywara G (2005) Soil incorporation under contrasting nitrogen fertilisation regimes. Soil
aeration status and catalase activity. Acta Agrophys 5(3):555–565 Res 55:1–9. https​://doi.org/10.1071/SR153​77
Cassman KG, Peng S, Olk DC, Ladha JK, Reichardt W, Dobermann Santhy P, Velusamy MS, Murryappan V, Selvi D (1999) Effect of
A, Singh U (1998) Opportunities for increased nitrogen-use effi- inorganic fertilizers and fertilizer manure combination on soil
ciency from improved resource management in irrigated rice sys- physico-chemical properties and dynamics of microbial biomass
tems. Field Crop Res 56(1):7–39. https​://doi.org/10.1016/S0378​ in an inceptisol. J Indian Soc Soil Sci 37(3):379–382
-4290(97)00140​-8 Tian G, Gao L, Kong Y, Hu X, Xie K, Zhang R, Ling N, Sheng Q,
Claassen VP, Carey JL (2007) Comparison of slow release nitrogen Guo S (2017) Improving rice population productivity by reduc-
yield from organic soil amendments and chemical fertilizers and ing nitrogen rate and increasing plant density. PLoS ONE
implication for regeneration of disturbed sites. Land Degrad Dev 12(8):e0182310. https​://doi.org/10.1371/journ​al.pone.01823​10
8:119–132. https​://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.770 Walia MK, Walia SS, Dhaliwal SS (2010) Long term effect of inte-
Fontaine S, Bardoux G, Abbadie L, Mariotti A (2004) Carbon input to grated nutrient management of properties of Typic Ustochrept
soil may decrease soil carbon content. Land Degrad Dev 7:314– after 23 cycles of an irrigated rice-wheat system. J Sustain Agric
320. https​://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00579​.x 33:723–733. https​://doi.org/10.1080/10440​046.2010.50751​9
Franzluebbers AJ, Stuedemann JA (2009) Soil-profile organic carbon Walkly A, Black IA (1934) An examination of the Degtjareff method
and total nitrogen during 12 years of pasture management in the for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification
Southern Piedmont USA. Argic Ecosyst Environ 29(1–3):28–36. of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci 37:29–38. https​://
https​://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2008.06.013 doi.org/10.1097/00010​694-19340​1000-00003​
Ge T, Li B, Zhu Z, Hu Y, Yuan H, Dorodnikov M, Jones DL, Wu J, Watanabe T, Luu HM, Inubushi K (2018) Effect of continuous appli-
Kuzyakov Y (2016) Rice rhizodeposition and its utilization by cation of rice straw compost and chemical fertilization on soil

13
International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2019) 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S9 S9

carbon and available silicon under a double rice cropping system community structure. Environ Toxicol Phar 34:358–369. https​://
in the Mekong delta, Vietnam. JPN Agric Res Q 51(3):233–239. doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2012.05.009
https​://doi.org/10.6090/jarq.51.233 Zhu Z, Ge T, Liu S, Hu Y, Yec R, Xia M, Tong C, Kuzyakov Y, Wu J
Yung-Yu S (2005) Effect of application of different types of (2018) Rice rhizodeposits affect organic matter priming in paddy
organic composts on rice growth under laboratory con- soil: the role of N fertilization and plant growth for enzyme activi-
ditions. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 51(3):443–449. https ​ : //doi. ties, ­CO2 and C­ H4 emissions. Soil Biol Biochem 116:369–377.
org/10.1111/j.1747-0765.2005.tb000​51.x https​://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilb​io.2017.11.001
Zemanek P (2011) Evaluation of compost influence on soil water reten-
tion. Acta Univ Agric et Silvic Mendel Brun 3:227–232. https​:// Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
doi.org/10.11118​/actau​n2011​59030​227 jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Zhang W, Zhang M, An S, Lin K, Li H, Cui C, Fu R, Zhu J (2012)
The combined effect of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-
209) and copper (Cu) on soil enzyme activities and microbial

13