Modern agriculture, no doubt has paved the way for “Green Revolution”, but it has led to the application of heavy doses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with the sole objective of maximizing the yield. The unbalanced and continuous use of chemical fertilizers in intensive cropping system is causing deterioration of soil health, multi-nutrient deficiencies, low productivity, poor quality and environmental hazards. Poor quality of food and fodder has caused serious health problems and disorders in both animals and human beings. Now, the agriculture research is focused on evolving ecologically sound, biologically sustainable and socio economically viable technologies like organic farming which includes local organic sources of nutrients without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Adoption of organic farming minimizes the environmental pollution and maintain long-term soil fertility by improving soil organic matter and essential plant nutrients including secondary and micronutrients. For producing quality food by sustaining the soil productivity and soil health are the challenges before us on one side and minimizing the pressure on non renewable sources or limited available sources on other hand needs immediate attention by all the stakeholders engaged in agriculture. Application of technologies available in organic farming and use of all locally available organic sources particularly on farm biomass which are rich in secondary and micronutrients will meet the twin objective of quality food production and reducing the pressure on non renewable resources.

The use of herbicides for weed control often catches the eye of environmentalists as it harms the soil microflora leading to deteriorated soil health. So, efforts are being made in order to use herbicides that can cause no or very less harm to the soil microflora. In this context, an experiment is planned to know the potential effect of different herbicides and allelochemicals on weed density and soil microbial population under direct seeded rice where herbicide weed management is widely adopted. The experiment is conducted during Rabi, 2020 and summer, 2021 in the red sandy loams of Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra (GKVK), University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru by using randomized complete block design with three replications. Out of different treatments tried out, T4 i.e., bispyribac sodium 10 SC 40 g a.i. ha-1 as post emergence has reported superior weed control which is evident by the lower weed density (43.3 no. m-2) and weed dry weight (49.2 g m-2) followed by T1 i.e., bensulfuron methyl + pretilachlor 6.6 GR 660 g a.i. ha-1 as pre emergence (46.0 no. m-2 and 51.4 g m-2, respectively). When soil microbial population is considered all the allelochemical treatments has recorded higher microbial population but the weed control in these allelochemical treatments was not satisfactory. Among the herbicides, T1 i.e., bensulfuron methyl + pretilachlor 6.6 GR 660 g a.i. ha-1 as pre emergence has recorded higher microbial population of bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi (23.52 x 105, 15.30 x 104 and 12.45 x 103 CFU g-1 soil, respectively) over T4 i.e., bispyribac sodium 10 SC 40 g a.i. ha-1 as post emergence (21.83 x 105, 13.33 x 104 and 10.91 x 103 CFU g-1 soil, respectively). Hence, by taking both weed control and soil microbial population into consideration treatment T1 i.e., bensulfuron methyl + pretilachlor 6.6 GR 660 g a.i. ha-1 as pre emergence is concluded to be the better herbicide.

Aims: A field experiment entitled “Growth and development of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) as influenced by different levels and timing of phosphogypsum nutrition” was planned to ascertain the role of phosphogypsum an industrial by product in promoting growth of groundnut. Study Design:  Experiment was carried out at Agronomy field unit, Zonal Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore, during kharif 2019. Experiment was planned with eleven treatments of which eight received sulphur through phosphogypsum at different levels (50, 75, 100 and 125 kg S eq ha-1) as basal and split (30 DAS) and one through gypsum (500 kg ha-1) as basal. Whereas, other two treatments with NPK and NK alone are included for comparison. Design of the experiment is RCBD with eleven treatments replicated thrice. Results: Among different treatments, application of phosphogypsum 125 kg S eq ha-1 in split recorded highest growth parameters like plant height (42.49 cm), leaf area (1137 cm2 plant-1), dry matter per plant (29.30 g) and number of branches plant‑1 (8.62). Whereas, application of phosphogypsum 100 kg S eq ha‑1 in split found on par with 125 kg with respect to all growth parameters. While lowest values of all the parameters were noticed in treatment receiving N and K fertilizer alone.