Effect of slow release fertilizer on soil-chemical properties and yield of cotton in vertisols

Introduction

Cotton (Gossypium sp.), one of the world's oldest cultivated crops, plays a crucial role in global textile industry (Shahrajabian et al., 2020) [1] . It is one of the most important commercial crops grown in India which is locally called as kapus belong to malvaceae family. Cotton was derived from Arabic word "qutun", belongs to Gossypium genus, which was also derived from the Arabic word "goz", meaning a soft substance (Gledhil, 2008) [2] . Cotton fibre is the backbone of textile and other industries. Due to its economic importance in India, cotton is called as "White Gold". Cotton is a natural, soft, fluffy staple fibre that grows in a boll around the seeds of the cotton plants and cotton fibre is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable and durable textile (Rathore, 2010) [3] . Cotton fibre is one of the most widely used and economically valuable textile fibres in the world, prized for its versatility, comfort, and breathability and this fibre is almost pure cellulose and may contain small amounts of polysaccharides, waxes, proteins, fats, water soluble substances, ash (Winnie, 2025). India ranks first in the world in terms of cotton acreage, with about 114.47 lakh hectares area under cotton cultivation, i.e. around 37 per cent of the global cotton-growing area. Approximately 67 per cent of cotton production in India is obtained from rainfed areas, while 33 per cent is produced under irrigated conditions. In terms of productivity, India is on 40 th rank with yield of 437 kg/ha, making India one of the major producers, consumers and exporters of cotton globally. Maharashtra accounts for the largest area under cotton cultivation in the country, covering about 41.23 lakh hectares, with an average productivity of 304 kg ha -1 (COCPC, 2025). Sustaining cotton productivity is a major challenge due to declining soil fertility, nutrient imbalance and deterioration of soil health under intensive cultivation system. The excessive use of fertilizers give rise to environmental problems viz. groundwater pollution by nitrate and algal blooms in rivers (Torres et al. 2020). To overcome this problem, slow-release fertilizers (SRFs) are gaining lots of interest because of their ability to release nutrients at a rate that plants can absorb effectively. Slow release fertilizer is a fertilizer which releases nutrients over a period of time. These slow release fertilizers help to improve the use efficiency of chemical fertilizer and it improves N uptake efficiency and crop yield (Zhijie et al., 2001; Shaviv, 2001) [5,4] . Biochar is a soil amendment and pyrogeninc black carbon that has attracted increased attention in political, academic and scientific arenas. Biochar behave as a slow release nitrogenous fertilizers which delay the re lease of N and can promote microbial activity, boost soil nitrification and minimize denitrification by shifting microbial populations towards nitrifying bacteria compared with urea alone (Liao et al., 2020) [6] .

Material and Methods

The two year field experiment was conducted during kharif 2024-2025 and 2025-26 at Research farm, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Maharashtra, India. The city of Akola is positioned at an altitude of 307.4 meters above sea level, located between 22˚41ꞌ N latitude and 77˚02ꞌ E longitude. Its climate can be classified as subtropical, characterized by three distinct seasons: summer, monsoon and winter. During the summer months, from March to May, Akola experiences hot and dry weather. The monsoon season lasts from June to October, bringing warm and rainy conditions. The winter season, from November to February, is characterized by dry and mild cold weather. The experimental soil was a deep, clayey black soil (Vertisol). The experiment comprised seven nutrient management treatments, viz., Absolute control (T 1 ), 100% RDF through straight fertilizer (T 2 ), 100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 (T 3 ), 100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer (T 4 ), 75% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer (T 5 ), 50% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer (T 6 ), 25% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer (T 7 ). The treatments were replicated three times in a Randomized Block Design (RBD), resulting in a total of 27 experimental plots. The seed rate of cotton is 3 kg ha -1 with variety Ajit-155 at a spacing 90 x 45 cm. The recommended dose of fertilizer was 90:45:45 kg N: P 2 O 5: K 2 O kg ha -1 and FYM @ 5 t ha -1 was applied before sowing in the treatment T 3 . Half N, Full P and Full dose of K were applied as basal doses, while remaining nitrogen was applied 30 days after sowing (DAS). Full nitrogen will be applied to cotton through SnRF at the time of sowing according to treatment. The initial characteristics of soil are enlisted below: Soil pH (8.09), EC (0.23 dS m -1 ), organic carbon (4.53 g kg -1

), available N (181 kg ha -1 ), available P (15.0 kg ha -1 ) and available K (399.5 kg ha -1 ). Soil samples were collected from each experimental plot before sowing and after harvest of crop. The collected samples were air dried, gently crushed, passed through a 2-mm sieve and used for the determination of soil chemical properties. The analysis of soil-chemical properties was carried out by the methods namely, soil pH was measured by using glass electrode pH meter in a 1:2.5 ratio of soil water suspension (Jackson, 1973), EC by conductivity meter (Jackson, 1973), organic carbon by wet-oxidation method (Walkley and Black, 1931), availabl N by alkaline permanganate method (Subbiah and Asija, 1956), available P by Olsen's method NaHCO 3 (0.5 M and pH -8.5) using a spectrophotometer (Olsen and Watanabe, 1954) and available K by neutral normal ammonium acetate method using flame photometer (Jackson, 1973). Seed cotton yield was harvested from each net plot at appropriate picking intervals. The produce obtained from each plot was weighed separately and the yield was expressed in q ha -1 . The recorded data on soil-chemical properties and yield of cotton were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) appropriate for Randomized Block Design with seven treatments and three replication as described by Gomez, 1984. The appropriate stan-dard error of mean (S.E m) and the critical difference (C.D.) were calculated at 5% level of probability.

Results and Discussion

a. Soil-chemical properties

Soil-chemical properties was significantly influenced by the slow-release fertilizer treatments.

Soil pH

Soil pH was found non-significant but it can be numerically vary among various treatments. The highest soil pH (8.13) was recorded in treatment T 3 (100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 ). The slow release fertilizer treatments T 4 , T 5, T 6 and T 7 recorded comparable highest than control treatment. The lowest soil pH (8.08) was recorded in treatment T 1 (absolute control). The decrease in soil pH due to application of balanced fertilizer with FYM was confirmed by the findings by Chan et al. (2008) [7] , Shenbagavali and Mahimairaja (2012) [8] and Abujabhah et al. (2016). ) was observed under 100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 which is at par with 100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer. The lowest EC (0.28 dS m -1 ) was recorded in control. Similar results observed by Nigussie et al. (2012) [9] , Ullah et al. (2022) [10] and Suradkar et al. (2023) [11] .

Electrical conductivity

Soil organic carbon

Effect of slow release fertilizer on soil organic carbon content was found significant which is illustrated in Fig. 2 respectively. The significantly highest value of soil organic carbon (5.48 g kg -1

) was observed under 100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 , was statistically at par with 100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer. The lowest soil organic carbon (4.54 g kg -1 ) was recorded in absolute control. Hati et al., (2007) [12] stated that the balanced application of inorganic fertilizer and organic amendments greatly influenced the accumulation of organic matter in soil. Similar results recorded by many researchers, Meena et al. (2018) [13] , Kaur et al. (2019) [14] , Das and Ghosh (2023) and Q.S. Xu et al. (2026) [15] . The data illustrated in Fig. 3, shows effect of slow release fertilizer on soil available N of post-harvest soil of cotton found significant. The significantly highest value of soil available N (201.67 kg ha -1 ) was observed in treatment T 3 (100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 ), statistically at par with T 4 (100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer). However, lowest soil available N (178.83 kg ha -1 ) was recorded in treatment T 1 (control). The available N value was found highest due to combined application of balanced fertilizer with FYM enhanced the soil fertility, regulating nitrogen leraching, and improving microbial properties (Sehra et al., 2020) [16] . Similar results observed by Nayak et al. (2014) [17] and Gaddi et al. (2020) [18] .

Soil available P

The data related to effect of slow release fertilizer on soil available P depicted in Fig. 4, respectively. The effect of SnRF on soil available P found significant. The significantly highest value of available P (17.68 kg ha -1 ) observed under treatment T 3 (100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 ), statistically at par with T 4 (100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer). However, lowest soil available P (13.52 kg ha -1 ) was recorded in treatment T 1 (control). Similar results observed by, Hussain et al. (2012) [19] and Soltys et al. (2020) [20] . The data related to effect of slow release fertilizer on soil available K of post-harvest soil of cotton crop shown in Fig. 5, respectively. The effect of slow release fertilizer on soil available K was significant.

Soil available K

The result revealed that, the highest soil available K was found under 100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 (418.45) kg ha -1 which was statistically at par with 100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer. However, the lowest (389.57 kg ha -1 ) was recorded under absolute control. Similar results found by Elangovan et al. (2014) [21] . As shown in Fig. 6, the application of SnRF with straight fertilizer significantly increase seed cotton yield. The maximum value for seed cotton yield (22.60 q ha -1 ) was recorded under 100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 , which was found statistically at par with 100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer. The minimum value (12.67 q ha -1

b. Effect of slow release fertilizer on yield of cotton

Seed cotton yield

) for seed cotton yield was recorded in control. The combined application of balanced fertilizer with organic sources increases yield of cotton due to might be attributed to slowly releases nutrient in the soil through mineralization of organic sources which might have facilitated better crop growth (Parmar at al. 2018) [22] . This findings is in conformity by Cevheri, (2026) [23] and Singh et al. (2020) [24] .

Cotton stalk yield

The data in Fig. 7 indicates that effect of slow release fertilizer are significantly increases cotton stalk yield. . The significantly highest cotton stalk yield observed in treatment T 3 (100% RDF through straight fertilizer + FYM @ 5 t ha -1 ) which was found statistically at par with treatment T 4 (100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer). The lowest cotton stalk yield was recorded in control. Similar results observed by many researchers such as Parmar et al. (2018) [22] , Ahmed et al. (2014) and Babaria et al. (2010) [25] .

Conclusion

Based on the present experiment, it can be concluded that application of 100% RDF through straight fertilizer along with FYM @ 5 t ha -1 and 100% RDN through SnRF + 100% P and K through straight fertilizer found equally beneficial for soil-chemical properties and enhancing productivity of cotton.

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