ABSTRACT
582Good agricultural practices that are simple, cost effective and farmer friendly need to be identified for judicious management of land resources. Specifically the shallow and marginal soils have numerous constraints for crop production in rainfed areas and need restoration by using locally available resources. In this view the present study was carried out to ascertain the physical and chemical characteristics of tank silt and its effects on various soil properties and crop yields. The tank silt from various dams in Akola district is being lifted and applied to the soil by farmers. Ten farmers’ fields were selected in Akola district where the tank silt was applied. The tank silt as well as the soil sample collected before and after application of tank silt were analyzed for various properties. The tank silt was found to contain considerable amount of silt (30.16 to 50.35%) and clay (21.33 to 41.47%) and had higher water retention and available water capacity (10.60 to 17.07%). It was further observed that there was improvement in the silt and clay content, saturated hydraulic conductivity (sHC) and water retention of the soil and slight decrease in bulk density with considerable increase in the available water capacity of soil. The pH and electrical conductivity of tank silt was not found to cause any harm to the soil and values of pH and electrical conductivity were within the permissible limit for tank silt applied soil. The tank silt was found to contain considerable organic carbon (OC) (4.8 to 9.0 g kg−1) and increased the OC of soil by (4 to 51%). There was substantial content of available N, P, K, S, micronutrients and exchangeable cations in the tank silt along with high cation exchange capacity (20.00 to 32.53 cmol (p+) kg−1) thereby improving nutrient status of soil considerably. The tank silt application recorded sequestration of considerable carbon in soil as evidenced by the soil OC stock thus, indicating its usefulness in crop productivity, soil health as well as mitigating adverse effects of climate change. Tank silt has potential to improve soil health and can also serve as potential source of nutrients for partially substituting chemical fertilizers. It can be concluded that tank silt is good source of organic matter, silt and clay, major, secondary 583and micro nutrients with high cation exchange and water holding capacity and improves the physical and chemical properties of soils.
