Potassium fertilization is often ignored by assuming alluvial soils have sufficient K reserves in the North West Plain Zone of India under cereal-based cropping systems. There is scanty information on the impact of integrated K fertilization on soil enzymes, nutrients availability, microbial population, and wheat yield cultivated in the corn–wheat cropping system. The current study exhibits that treatment (T7) applied with a dose of 90 kg K ha−1 [30 kg K by farmyard manure (FYM) and 60 kg K by muriate of potash (MOP)] significantly enhances the various microbial populations from 48.00 to 123.10% and 39.00 to 124.00%, soil enzymatic activities from 70.31 to 180.00% and 102.42 to 175.68%, and available nutrients from 2.43 to 8.44% and 14.79 to 22.87% for the first and second years of wheat cultivation, respectively. It also improved various yield parameters (12.39–41.71% and 18.24–41.14%) during both the consecutive years of cultivation. Statistical analyses revealed that the treatments (T4, T5, and T7) applied with integrated fertilization of wheat cultivation through FYM and MOP were more promising for improving soil enzymatic activities (11.59–57.22%), microbial populations (5.14–15.70%), available nutrients in soil (7.60–16.54%), and crop yield (1.06–5.85%) during the second year of cultivation as compared to the first year of cultivation. This study might be helpful to reclaim soil health and reduce chemical fertilizers used in agricultural lands.

The developed IFS model is having different components which comprise of arable crops (1.04 ha), horticulture crops (0.22 ha), fishery (0.10 ha), mushroom (0.02 ha), poultry (10 birds), vermicompost (0.02 ha) and kitchen garden (20 m2). The overall productivity of model was 174.04 tonnes/ha/year in terms of sugarcane equivalent yield (SEY) during the representative years (2013–18). The farmyard manure (FYM) together with vermicompost and other farm-based by-products saved the nutrients by 338.71 kg N, 124.60 kg P, 306.22 kg K and 769.56 kg NPK (kg/year). The entire annual man-days generated were 441, 465, 473, 467 and 470 in various components during 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 and 2017–18, respectively. However, maximum man-days were generated by crop component (209/year) followed by dairy component (152/year) of the IFS model. The gross return/year/ha obtained was `6.12×103/ha and net returns of (`3.74×103/ha) with per day income of `1025 from 1.5 ha of the IFS model under irrigated agro-ecosystem. Inclusion of horticulture components and boundary plantations in the IFS model also tend to reduce GHG emissions.

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The experiment across nine environments (three cuttings × three locations) was conducted during 2009-10 and 2010-11 crop seasons to study the effect of genotype × environment interaction (GEI) on a cane, CCS yield and sucrose (%) in sugarcane (Saccharum spp). Analysis of variance of 10 genotypes revealed that genotype, environment and GEI were highly significant. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model was used to interpret the behaviour of genotype, environment and their interaction. In fact, the objective of this study was to identify stable and adaptable genotypes across the locations and to determine the magnitude of G×E interaction. AMMI analysis of variance showed that 52.93% of the total SS for cane yield, 60.48% for CCS yield ad 56.0% for sucrose (%) was attributed to the environmental effects, indicating that the locations were diverse. The PCA-1 and PCA-2 were also significant and both sums contributed cumulatively to 66.84% to the total of G×E interaction. The genotype CoP 05437 (4) exhibited high cane and CCS yield along with wider stability and adaptability to the different environments. However, BO 91 (8), CoSe 092423 (10), CoSe 05452 (5), Co 05019 (2) and CoBln 04174 (7) genotypes showed instability and specific adaptability to the environments, while CoP 09301 (9) genotype showed higher sucrose (%) and greater stability across the environments for this trait.

Potassium fertilization is often ignored in cereal-based cropping systems assuming sufficient K reserves in the alluvial soils of north-western India. However, the responses to K have now widely reported due to continuous mining and little additions through external sources. Little known on the effects of integrated K management on soil biological properties and yield performance of corn grown in sequence with wheat. A field experiment was conducted during 2010-2012 to find out the performance of corn (Zea mays L.)-wheat (Triticum aestvum L. emend Fiori & Paol.) cropping system with K fertilization through muriate of potash and farmyard manure (FYM) at New Delhi, India. The experiment was laid out in the randomized block design with seven treatments replicated thrice. Results revealed that treatment applied with 90 kg K supplemented 60 kg K through MOP and 30 Kg K through FYM significantly increase grain yield (100.9% and 99.3%) and stover yield (45.8% and 33.6%) during 2010 and 2011 respectively in the corn crop. A positive correlation observed between yield and soil biological properties, viz., bacterial population, actinomycetes, cellulose degrading bacteria, phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, potassium solubilizing bacteria, dehydrogenase activity, phosphatase activity, fluorescein diacetate and β-glucosidase. It concluded that application of FYM could be an alternative option for sustainable management of agricultural land and restore its fertility compared to the use of K fertilizers. K e y w o r d sIntegrated potassium management, Soil biological properties, Corn, Corn-wheat cropping system