Vol. 8, Issue 11, Part N (2024)

A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy farm, College of Agriculture, Pune, during rabi 2023 on wheat crop with a view to study the soil physical and chemical properties as influenced by farming practices in Inceptisol. Based on long term field experiment on soybean-wheat sequence cropping was started on same site during kharif 2023. The experiment was laid in Randomized Block Design comprising four replications with five treatments viz., T₁: Farmers practice, T₂: MPKV recommended package of practices, T₃: Organic farming, T₄: Natural farming and T₅: Climate resilient farming. In present investigation for wheat crop, the treatments were superimposed on same layout and randomization. The results showed that, Post-harvest soil physical properties i.e. hydraulic conductivity, water holding capacity and bulk density were most favorable under organic farming. These improvements in soil physical characteristics highlight the benefits of organic farming in enhancing soil structure. The soil chemical properties viz., pH, EC, calcium carbonate was significantly affected due to different farming practices. Organic farming recorded significantly higher levels of organic carbon (0.71%). The Soil available macronutrients after the harvest of wheat were varied across different farming practices, nitrogen (164.17 kg ha^-1) was greater with climate-resilient farming, phosphorus (20.92 kg ha^-1) was higher with the MPKV recommended package of practice, and potassium (464.40 kg ha^-1) were maximum under organic farming. The organic farming exhibited higher microbial populations (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes) and enzyme activities (acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and dehydrogenase) compared to other farming practices.