Effect of INM on soil physico-chemical properties of maize (Zea mays L.) intercrop under buel (Grewia optiva Drummond) based agroforestry system in the mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh

The raising major human health hazards due to blind use of chemical fertilizers and pesticises in India trigger cancer patients. To check major health problems there is an urgent need of INM aplications in our major coarse gain crop viz., maize (Zea mays) and furthermore, to improve soil fertility and health under agroforestry system. Hence, the present experiment has been carrid out to study the effect of INM on the physico-chemical properties of soil when maize intercropped under buel (Grewia optiva) based agroforestry system in the Mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh at Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni. INM applications were applied to evaluate their efficiency in enhancing the soil fertility and health of crop. Total eight treatment combinations organic and inorganic fertilizers were applied to evalute their synergistic effects on the soil and coarse gain crop. The important physico-chemical parameters viz., bulk density (g/cm³), particle density (g/cm³), soil porosity (%), soil moisture content (%), soil pH, EC (dS/m), organic carbon (%), and NPK nutrient availability in kg per hectare were worked out by using standard methods. The measued soil data of two successive years were analysized in factorial RBD design with three replications and pooled analysis. The results revealed that INM significantly improved the physico-chemical soil properties of maize grown under agroforestry system as compared to open condtion. The use of 100% FYM application showed the best treatment during both year study among all treatment combinations of INM. The physical property of soil and NPK nutrient availability were significantly incersed in second year as compared to first year which improve the growth and yield of maize crop under buel based agroforestry system. From this research study, it is recommended that the application of 100% FYM in maize crop under agroforestry system should be applied to achieve sustainable agriculture and chemical fertizer free agriculture in Mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh which will also be helpful for human health. The findings from this experiment provide valuable insights for hill farmers, researchers and policymakers aiming to optimize crop production with diversified agriculture and to maintain soil health in similar agro-ecological zones.