Effect of reduced tillage and mulching on soil health in <i>Sesbania</i> alley cropping based rainfed food - fodder systems

An experiment was laid out in split-plot design with 3-Sesbania alley-based rainfed food-ufodder systems [Sesbania+(fodder sorghum–chickpea), Sesbania+(fodder sorghum–barley) and Sesbania+(fodder sorghum–mustard)] in main-plots and 6-reduced tillage and Sesbania mulching combinations in sub-plots to assess their impact on soil health. Minimum tillage (MT) during rainy season followed by zero tillage (ZT) during winter season along with mulch (MT-ZT+mulch) resulted in higher proportion of soil macro-aggregate, increased infiltration rate by 27.4%, hydraulic conductivity by 14.9% and water holding capacity by 5.9% (v/v) over conventional tillage (CT) during rainy season followed by conventional tillage during winter season without mulch (CT-CT without mulch). The MT-ZT+mulch had the highest soil organic carbon (7.3 g kg–1), microbial biomass carbon (226 mg kg–1 soil), SOC stock (14.9 Mg ha−1), carbon sequestration rate (1.72 Mg ha−1 year−1), soil quality index (SQI, 1.09) and enhanced the available soil N, P and K by 45.1, 47.2 and 22.2%, respectively, over CT-CT without mulching. The Sesbania alley + (fodder sorghum–mustard) cropping system had adverse effect on soil health while inclusion of chickpea in the system improved soil health and recorded the highest SQI (0.97).