WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.) PRODUCTIVITY AND SOIL ORGANIC MATTER (SOM) IMPROVEMENT BY INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT (INM) UNDER IRRIGATED CONDITIONS

Wheat productivity and soil health are the major concern of Pakistan in wake of increasing demand of the fast-growing population for food coupled with price hike in chemical fertilizers. Apart from the price hike of chemical fertilizers, excessive and imbalanced use may pose devastating effects on soil health, fertility, and sustainable productivity. One of the viable options is integrated nutrient management that is the use of organic, microbial, and chemical fertilizers together may not only increase crop yield, improve soil organic matter, farmers' profitability on a sustainable basis but also reduces the use of chemical fertilizers. Therefore a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the wheat productivity and soil health improvement by INM (bio-organic chemical fertilizers including Zinc Sulphate and Boric Acid). The data was registered on yield, growth and ionic concentration of wheat variety (Faisalabad 2008) and residual soil organic matter, N-NO3, P, and K sown under irrigated soil (ECe=0.57 dS m-1, pH=8.6 ) at Kalashakaku farmers’ field during winter-2020. The treatments were arranged by statistical design randomized complete block design (RCBD). Plant height, tillering, number of grains spike-1, straw and grain yield were significantly (p≤ 0.05) improved. Similarly, the grain content of N, P, K, Zn, B and soil organic matter were significantly improved by INM technology. Wheat grain yield was the maximum (4.2 ton ha-1) at the application of 120 kg N,90 kg P, 60 kg K, 5 kg Zn and 1kg B ha-1 combined with biofertilizer and humic acid use and it was 23% more than farmer practice (FP) and 11% more than the recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) respectively. The residual SOM was 1.0% and it was 11% more than control. This study confirms INM has tremendous potential of plant nutrients supply for productivity enhancement and soil organic matter improvement of wheat on a sustainable basis.