A Practice to Enhance Soil Physico-Chemical Properties and Viable Microbial Count as Effected by Organic Nutrient Sources in Iris under Mid Hill Zone of Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

The current study was conducted at Experimental Farm of Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr. YS Parmar UHF, Nauni, Solan, H.P. during the year 2019-2020 to determine the ideal Jeevamrit dosage for enhancing the physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics of soil for irisAt intervals of 15 days, sixteen applications of jeevamrit were applied as a foliar spray and drench. Three replications of the field experiment were set up using Randomized Block Design (RBD). The study showed that treatment T16, which involved both 7.5% Jeevamrit drenching and 15.0% Jeevamrit foliar application, had the most positive impact on soil quality. This treatment resulted in the highest organic carbon level (1.48), nitrogen content (362.59 kg/ha), phosphorus content (137.48 kg/ha), potassium content (267.85 kg/ha), and a high count of viable bacteria (75.63 ×106 cfu/g soil), viable fungi count (28.57 ×104 cfu/g soil), and viable actinomycetes count (45.90 ×103 cfu/g soil). Additionally, this treatment had the lowest pH and EC levels.