System Intensification in Ridges and Furrow Planting to Enhance Nutrient Uptake Efficiency in Soybean

Through the study we aim to explore agronomic intervention to provide nutritional security to growing population, with limited resources and changing climatic conditions. The objective of the study is to investigate the impact of system intensification on nutrient content and nutrient uptake in soybean varieties within ridge and furrow planting system. The experiment was conducted during Kharif 2019 at Pantnagar, India. It was designed in a split-plot layout with eight treatments, replicated thrice. The main plot treatments included two soybean varieties: PS-1092 and SL-958. Four system intensification treatments were within the sub-plots, (plant-to-plant spacing -5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm, and 20 cm). Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Sulfur content in seed was significantly highest at spacing 10 cm as compared to other spacing treatments (P value=.05). Nitrogen, Phosphorus Potassium and Sulfur uptake for both seed and stover was the maximum at plant to plant spacing of 10 cm which was significantly higher than other plant to plant spacing treatments at 5 % level of significance. Intense plant to plant spacing of 10 cm resulted into the significantly higher partial factor productivity (PFP) of nutrients at P=.05. Although nutrient content, nutrient uptake and PFP in soybean is higher at plant to plant spacing of 10 cm, nutrient harvest index is better achieved at wider spacing of 15 to 20 cm. Under no fertilizer limitation, system intensification can be useful to enhance nutrient content of seeds but in cases of limited fertilizer availability wider spacing is more beneficial to achieve higher nutrient use efficiency. Further investigations are needed to fine-tune these practices across diverse geographic regions and soil types. GHG emissions from soybean grown in varying planting geometry needs to be studied.