Response of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to organic and inorganic nutrient sources

Introduction

Barley, the world's fourth most significant cereal crop, is grown in alkaline soils and in frost or drought-prone areas. It is utilized in the brewing industry to produce malt, and its straw is used as cattle feed. In comparison to wheat, barley grains and straw have 12.5% moisture, 11.5% albuminoids, 74.0% carbohydrate, 1.3% fat, 3.9% crude fiber, and 1.5% ash. Barley ranks next to wheat both in acreage and production among rabi cereals in India. Barley is grown in China, Russia, Germany, the United States, Canada, India, Turkey, and Australia. Barley is farmed in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, and Bihar. India ranks first in the world in barley production with 6.05 million hectare area and an annual production of 18.44 million tonnes. It is mainly grown in the northern plains and concentrated in the states of U.P., Rajasthan, M.P., Bihar, Haryana and Punjab. Rajasthan stands second with regard to its acreage and production. It is cultivated on about lakh hectares area in the state with an annual production of 12.1 lakh tonnes and productivity of 2950 kg/ha. Organic manures are possible micronutrient sources, improve soil structure by providing binding action to soil aggregates, and boost soil water retention and buffering ability. It also improves nitrogen utilization by chelating the chemical fertilizer. Organic supplementation is more than just a source of nutrients. Vermicompost is now being promoted as a good manure for use in field-based integrated nutrient management strategies. Earthworm processed organic west, also known as vermicompost, is a final divided peat-like material with great porosity, aeration, rainability, and water holding capacity. Vermicomposting is high in macro and micronutrients, vitamins, enzymes, antibiotics, and growth hormones. Apart from providing a balanced nutrient supply, it enhances fertilizer and water use efficiency even more than FYM (Abedi et al., 2010) [10] .

Method and materials

The experiment was conducted during rabi 2025 at Agronomy farm, School of Agriculture, Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur. Geographically, the study area is located at 75o48'84" E longitude and 26o82'47" N latitude and this region falls under agro-climatic zone III A (Semi-arid Eastern Plain Zone) of Rajasthan. The experiment consisting eight treatments control, 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), 100% RDF + farmyard manure (FYM) 5 t/ha + vermicompost (VC) 2.5 t/ha, 100% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha + Azotobacter, 75% RDF + FYM 7.5 t/ha, 75% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha, 50% RDF + FYM 10 t/ha and 50% RDF + FYM 7.5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha. The total eight treatment combinations were tested in randomized block design with three replications.

Results and Discussion

The highest number of total and effective tillers was recorded in the treatment 100% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + vermicompost (VC) 2.5 t/ha, which was significantly superior to control, 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), 50% RDF + FYM 10 t/ha and 50% RDF + FYM 7.5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha and remained statistically at par with 100% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha + Azotobacter, 75% RDF + FYM 7.5 t/ha and 75% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha (Singh et al. 2021) [3] . The presence of Azotobacter, although beneficial, did not significantly increase the tiller count beyond that of RDF + FYM + VC alone, indicating that the major growth benefit came from the combined application of RDF and organic matter. These results align with the findings of Yadav et al. (2016) [11] , who reported enhanced tillering in cereals with integrated use of inorganic and organic nutrient sources. The significant improvement (33.33% and 40% increase over control and RDF alone) highlights the benefits of integrating organic amendments and biofertilizers with chemical fertilizers, which aligns with findings from previous studies emphasizing the positive impact of INM on crop productivity (Thakur et al. 2024). The percent increase of grains yield due to 100% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha + Azotobacter and 100% RDF + farmyard manure (FYM) 5 t/ha + vermicompost (VC) 2.5 t/ha were 106.58 and 105.00% over control and 100% RDF, respectively. The marked increase in grain yield over 100% compared to control and sole RDF application supports findings from recent studies that emphasize the role of integrated nutrient management in improving soil fertility, nutrient uptake efficiency, and crop productivity (Sharma et al., 2022 and Verma and Yadav, 2021) [9,8] . This higher productivity may be attributed to a sustained availability of essential nutrients to plants. Combined use of FYM and biofertilizer with chemical fertilizers gave the higher yields and proved significantly superior to most of the treatments. The beneficial effect of FYM and biofertilizer may be due to their contribution in supplying additional plant nutrients, improvement of soil physical conditions and biological process in soil. These results are in conformity with the finding of Thakur et al. 2024. Application of 100% RDF + farmyard manure (FYM) 5 t/ha + vermicompost (VC) 2.5 t/ha, 75% RDF + FYM 7.5 t/ha, 75% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha, 50% RDF + FYM 7.5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha and 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) significantly influenced the gross and net return. These results are supported by recent studies that highlight the positive effects of integrated nutrient management on improving macronutrient uptake in cereals through enhanced microbial activity, organic matter content, and nutrient mineralization (Basu et al., 2023 and Singh and Ahlawat, 2021) [2,3] . The highest benefit cost ratio (2.62) due to 100% recommended dose of fertilizer, 75% RDF + FYM 7.5 t/ha and 100% RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + VC 2.5 t/ha + Azotobacter was 4.38, 3.83, 3.72 and 3.58 percent higher over control, respectively. These results are in line with previous studies suggesting that INM can improve crop productivity and profitability while reducing dependence on chemical fertilizers (Pandey et al., 2022 and Choudhary & Kumar, 2021) [4,7] .

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