Influence of sustainable crop production, vermicompost, and Azotobacter in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Introduction

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), which originated in Southwest Asia, is recognized as among the major food crops and is often called the "King of Cereals" (Parewa et al., 2019) [57] . As the most important cereal crop globally, wheat is a principal source of carbohydrates and also provides significant amounts of protein, minerals, and vitamins. Wheat is the main cereal consumed worldwide (Kizilgeci et al., 2021) [37] , and its cultivation occurs in nearly every part of the world. Global wheat production was predicted to be close to 790 million metric tonnes for the 2023-2024 cropping season, grown on about 216 million hectares with an average productivity of 3.65 tonnes per hectare (FAO, 2024). India produced 114 million metric tonnes of wheat on 31.3 million hectares, or 3.64 tonnes per hectare on average (Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, 2024) [46] . With a productivity level of 4.42 tonnes per hectare, production in Haryana was measured at 11.06 metric tonnes per million from an area of 2.5 million hectares (Anonymous 2024) [7] With roughly 12% protein, 1.72% fat, 69.60% carbs, and 27.20% minerals, wheat grains are nutritious (BARI.,2016). Recent research has largely examined the movement of heavy metals within the wheat grain system (Ahmad et al., 2019; Sharma et al., 2018) [2,69] , but less attention has been given to how these metals migrate in various parts of the crop. The fat content in wheat grains is measured using the Soxhlet extraction technique (GB5009. 6-2016). Inefficient crop management, improper fertilizer use, poor nutrient extraction, and water shortages directly impact wheat yields (Zhang et al., 2017) [82] . India ranks seventh in terms of organic arable land and is the world's top producer of organic products. Since 2016, the state of Sikkim in India has been fully certified for organic production (Aulakh and Ravisankar, 2017) [12] .

Sustainable Crop Production and Organic Farming's Role

After the Brundtland Report (1987) defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs," the concept of sustainable agriculture gained traction. Thirty distinct sustainable farming methods in India were discovered by (Gupta et al.,2021) [30] . According to APEDA 2020-21, India ranked first in terms of organic producers and ninth in terms of organic agricultural land in 2020 (Willer & Sahota, 2020) [77] . The overall certified organic producing area under NPOP was 4,339,184.93 hectares as of March 31, 2021. Organic farming production strategy that maintains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people, according to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Soil regions around the globe can significantly help mitigate future climate change effects on maintaining soil health and advancing sustainable farming (Oroian et al., 2017; Broberg et al., 2017) [55,18] . A declining response to agricultural inputs has become a primary challenge for the sustainability of wheat-based systems (Desai et al., 2015) [22] . Organic farming provides lasting environmental and societal benefits as a sustainable management system (Basavalingaiah et al., 2022) [15] . Ongoing cropping without adequate restorative measures can jeopardize agricultural sustainability (Gopinath et al., 2022; Rajanna et al., 2022) [29,62] . Adding FYM (Farm Yard Manure) and nitrogen fertilizers increases a crop's biological yield and harvest index (Singh et al., 2018; Arif et al., 2016) [72,9] . According to IFOAM (2015) [33] and Lampkin, organic farming is an agricultural approach that prioritises social, environmental, and economic sustainability, animal welfare, minimising reliance on external inputs, optimising the use of local, renewable resources, managing agroecosystems, and making up for internalised external costs. Limiting the use of fertilisers, herbicides, insecticides, and other external inputs is a key component of organic agriculture (WHO, 2015). Cow urine is used in organic farming to prepare growth enhancers and biopesticides, improving soil fertility and managing various pests and diseases. The biochemical composition of plants increases with cow urine application (Pradhan et al., 2018) [60] . The individual and combined use of organic manures has raised bread wheat productivity (Ali et al., 2020) [6] . Sustainable agriculture avoids using chemicals, synthetic substances, pesticides, and growth hormones to produce food of high nutritional value and adequate quantity (Onkar et al., 2019) [54] . Organic amendments such as compost, vermicompost, poultry manure, and farmyard manure are effective at mobilizing nutrients and enhancing crop productivity. Organic matter supports a vast population of beneficial soil organisms essential for plant health (Kumar et al., 2015) [38] . The principles of health, ecology, fairness, and care are fundamental to the development and growth of organic agriculture. Organic farming methods stem from traditional techniques refined over thousands of years in villages and farming communities (Singh et al., 2019) [73] . Despite many governmental efforts to encourage organic farming, only about 2% of India's net sown area is under organic cultivation. In India, there are about two million certified organic farmers, but many uncertified growers lack documentation. (Gupta et al., 2021) [30] . Additionally, the organic produce market is now expanding rapidly both in India and globally. Organic agriculture holistically promotes consumer health, improves ecological well-being, and contributes to economic growth by generating income. According to Willer and Lernoud (2019) [78] , India is presently the world's top producer of organic products. In light of this, promoting organic farming in India has the potential to build a future that is economically, ecologically, and nutritionally sound. Press mud application has also been shown to increase yields in crops like wheat (Sheoran et al., 2017; Chattha et al., 2019) [71,19] and sugarcane (Nawaz et al., 2017) [48] . A healthy environment, economic viability, and social and economic fairness are the main goals of sustainable agriculture. Vermiwash implementation is a useful strategy for achieving these goals and maintaining agricultural systems (Nayak et al., 2019) [49] . There are significant benefits to using organic manure and biofertilizers in terms of dry matter production, grain yield, and grain nutrient content. (Broberg, 2017; Arshad et al., 2018) [18, 10] . Traditional soil management methods reduce both organic matter and biological activity, disrupting vital ecosystem functions (de Jesus Souza et al., 2019). Manure application improves the soil's physical characteristics, boosts nutrient uptake (Li and Marschner, 2019) [43] , and boosts crop productivity by promoting sustainability (AlAmin et al., 2017) [5] . Biofertilizers offer diverse benefits in sustainable agriculture (Barman et al., 2017) [14] . These products have been shown to improve plant yield and growth by 10% to 40% (Batista et al., 2018) [16] .

Azotobacter's Impact on Wheat Yield and Growth Factors

Azotobacter has a positive effect on crop growth rate (CGR) and enhances seed germination. Essam and associates (2016). The free-living Azotobacter and Azospirillum genera fix atmospheric nitrogen in cereal crops without the need for symbiosis. Vitamins like riboflavin and thiamine can be produced by Azotobacter (Revillas et al.,2021) [65] . Azotobacter chroococcum inoculation significantly increased plant growth in comparison to the control, according to another study (Perdomo et al., 2021). In crop production, Azotobacter chroococcum has demonstrated its significance in enhancing soil fertility and plant nutrition (Kurrey et al., 2018) [41] . Azotobacter actively colonised the roots of wheat crops, offering the plants good protection. (Akram et al., 2016) [4] . Vermiwash contains nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Azotobacter, Agrobacterium, Rhizobium, and some PSB, according to a microbiological investigation (Kauri et al., 2015) [36] . According to Verma et al.,2014) [76] , the maximum grain yield of wheat was obtained by applying the recommended quantity of fertilisers + vermicompost @ 5.0 t ha -1 + Azotobacter and PSB as seed treatment. This was followed by RDF + vermicompost @ 5.0 t ha -1 + Azotobacter & PSB as seed treatment. Similar findings were obtained by (Raki et al., 2019) [63] , (Ahmad et al.,2022) [3] , and (Gedefa et al.,2022) [27] . Fertilization is one of the key driving forces in agriculture and plays an important role in crop grain yield formation (Mon et al.,2016-Gai et al.,2019) [47,26] , and farmers in general apply a high dose of chemical fertilizers during wheat production to harvest high grain yields (Niu et al.,2013; Ashraf et al., 2019) [51, 11] . Plant height, number of tillers/plants, number of spikes/plants, spike length, number of grains/spikes, grain yield (kg/ha), and straw yield (kg/ha) were all significantly higher in plants inoculated with seed treatment, particularly PSB in liquid form, according to the effects of Azotobacter inoculation (Me Carty et al., 2017). Seed yield (1687 kg ha -1 ), oil content (41.5%), and oil production (703.5 kg ha -1 ) all showed noticeably higher values following Azotobacter seed inoculation (Kumar et al., 2023) [39] . When coupled with farmyard waste and inorganic fertiliser (NPK), Azotobacter can be utilised as a biofertilizer to increase production (Mahato et al., 2018) [44] . The findings showed that Azotobacter seed inoculation considerably improved plant height and yield characteristics compared to no inoculation. With Azotobacter inoculation, wheat grain and straw yields rose from 4.89 to 5.14 t ha -1 and from 6.88 to 7.23 t ha -1 , respectively. Azotobacter inoculation also produced similar findings for grain protein content (12.95 to 13.22%) and protein yield (632.7 to 678.0 kg ha -1 ). The uptake of phosphorus by wheat grain and straw was unaffected by Azotobacter (Jaga et al., 2017) [34] . Grain yield, straw yield, test weight, number of grains per ear, and number of spikelets per ear were all strongly impacted by Azotobacter and Mycorrhiza (Darjee et al., 2024) [20] . When Azotobacter was used, the grain yield rose (Nongthombam et al., 2021) [52] . Plant height was considerably boosted by Azotobacter seed inoculation. In contrast to the mean values of 28.21 cm, 74.51 cm, and 80.94 cm plant -1 in inoculation at 40 DAS, 80 DAS, and harvest stage, Azotobacter displayed the highest values of 30.42 cm, 76.45 cm, and 82.63 cm plant -1 (Yadav et al., 2023) [80] .

Vermicompost's Impact on Wheat Yield and Growth Factors

The experiment's findings demonstrated that applying 50% RDF + 50% N through vermicompost increased the yield of grain and straw. Treatment T 6 (50% RDF + 50% N through vermicompost) had the highest plant height, number of grains/spikes, test weight, and protein content. According to the results, treatment T 7 (75% RDF + 25% N through vermicompost) had the highest harvest index (42.97%) (Ahmad et al.,2022) [3] . The combined EM (5377 kg ha 1 or 2176 kg acre 1) and vermicompost (5324 kg ha 1 or 2155 kg acre -1 ) produced more grain (Bezabeh et al., 2022) [17] . The maximum mean grain kg/ha) and straw yield (6648.5 kg/ha) were reported under 50% VC at sowing + 50% VC at tillering (V3), which was comparable to V4 and much greater than the control and basal treatment (V2). (Aechra and others, 2022) [1] . In comparison to other integrated treatments, Azotobacter and vermicompost @ 5 t ha -1 (T 5 ) produced noticeably better tillers per m 2 (490.29), productive tillers per m 2 (271.24), spike length (9.67), grain per spike (45.79), grain weight per spike (2.45), and test weight (43.93). T 4 (RDF + Azotobacter + Vermicompost @ 4.0 t ha -1 ). Vermicompost has phytohormones, micronutrients, macronutrients, and microorganisms that are vital to plant growth. (Kumar et al. 2017) [40] . Earthworm rearing is growing in importance on a global scale as a means of turning organic waste into beneficial nutrients (Hussain et al. 2018) [32] . Field crops can benefit greatly from the use of vermicompost (Nurhidayati et al.,2018) [53] . Vermicompost can improve the characteristics of the soil, increasing crop growth and yield (Pezeshkpour et al., 2014) [59] . As compared to conventional compost. Vermicompost is the microbial composting of organic wastes through earthworms' activity to form organic fertilizer, which contains a higher level of organic matter, organic carbon, total and available N, P, K, and micronutrients, microbial and enzyme activities (Pandey et al.,2017 and Verma et al.,2017) [56,75] . Increments in growth values might be owing to the increased availability of all essential nutrients due to application of organic manures such as farmyard manure, vermicompost along with three sprays of vermiwash (Ranva et al.2022) [64] This enhances the rhizosphere surrounding the root system's ability to hold water and increases the availability of macro and micro components, both of which promote plant growth (Radwan et al., 2021) [61] . Additionally noted that phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria and vermicompost at a rate of 5 tonnes ha -1 improved wheat yield and yield characteristics (Kumar et al. 2017) [40] . Vermicompost application has a positive impact on soil enzyme activity, microbial population, and pH (Yasmin et al., 2021) [81] . Vermiwash is becoming a significant potential tool (Nayak and Yadav, 2019) [49] . It is a valuable source of plant nutrients in organic agriculture since it is high in dissolved nutrients and amino acids (Dongare and Gawas, 2021) [23] . In the field, vermicomposting has demonstrated enormous effects on crop development. Additionally, the pathogenic content of the vermireactor feed is decreased during the vermicomposting process (Huang et al., 2020) [31] . An alternate approach to plant growth is to use vermicompost and vermiwash. By employing vermiwash and vermicompost in a medium composed of paddy husks and white sand, plants can be grown hydroponically without the need for soil to provide nutrients. This reduces the amount of space needed to grow crops (Jaikishun et al. 2018) [35] . Vermiwash is used as both a liquid spray and a liquid biofertilizer (Shafique et al., 2021) [68] . Vermicompost application enhances soil aeration, water retention, and plant nutrient availability (Gill et al. 2019) [28] . Application of vermicompost considerably decreases bulk density and particle density and enhances the water-holding capacity due to increased soil aggregation (Sheikh and Dwivedi 2018) [70] . Vermicompost's positive impact on nutrient availability was the reason for the increase in grain and straw yield following its treatment (Patidar et al. 2019) [58] .

Conclusion

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) remains a critical global staple crop, appreciated for its great nutritional value and environmental tolerance. Challenges such as imbalanced fertilization, inefficient crop management, and environmental constraints continue to affect wheat productivity. Organic farming, supported by applying farmyard manure, vermicompost, and biofertilizers like Azotobacter, provides a sustainable substitute that improves crop output, soil health, and nutrient availability. These eco-friendly inputs not only enhance soil fertility and structure but also improve plant growth parameters, yield attributes, and grain quality. Azotobacter contributes significantly by improving nitrogen fixation, while vermicompost improves soil structure, increases beneficial microbial activity, and enriches the soil with vital nutrients. It also promotes seed germination and enhances plant development metrics. The integrated use of organic amendments alongside conventional fertilizers results in improved wheat growth, yield, and quality, supporting both environmental and economic sustainability. To promote ecological sustainability and food security, there is a pressing need to adopt integrated organic farming approaches, backed by farmer training, policy support, and increased market accessibility. Encouraging such practices can help build a nutritionally secure, environmentally sound, and economically viable agricultural future.

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