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Impact of Weed Management Practices on Soil Microflora and Dehydrogenase Enzyme Activity Under Varying Levels of Nitrogen in Winter Season Onion (Allium cepa L.)

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Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of different weed management practices under influence of varying levels of N doses to test their effects on the various soil microflora and dehydrogenase enzyme activity in the winter onion field during 2016–2017 and 2017–2018. There were a total of twenty eight treatments replicated three times under the split-plot design (SPD). The treatments associated with weed management practices were applied to the main plots and the different N doses were given in each subplot. Microbial population and dehydrogenase enzyme activity in soil and crop weed competition index were determined. The two-hand weeding (HW) at 20 and 40 days after transplanting (DAT) of onion seedlings as well as preplant application of oxyfluorfen along with one HW at 40 DAT, exhibited a significant increase in dehydrogenase activity and microbial population in the soil when the N was applied at 100 kg ha−1. The study suggests that suitable weed management practices for the winter onion exerts a transient impact on soil microbial population, maintained good soil health and reduced crop-weed competition (CWC) with relatively less environmental hazards.

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Data Availability

The data is from our conducted field experiment and all the methods are used mentioned in the manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the University Grant Commission of India (Grant No. F1-17.1/2017-18/RGNF-2017-18-SCRAJ-35024). The authors would like to thank Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University, Rajasthan, India for providing the necessary facility to conduct the experiment. The authors (V. Rajput and T. Minkina) would like to acknowledge funding from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Grant no. 19-29-05265.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University, Jobner-Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    Pushpa Ujjainiya, Maliram Choudhary, Hanuman S. Jatav & Vijay Y. Tokala

  2. Post Harvest Physiology, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Vijay Y. Tokala

  3. Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    Vishnu D. Rajput & Tatiana Minkina

Authors
  1. Pushpa Ujjainiya
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  2. Maliram Choudhary
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  3. Hanuman S. Jatav
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  4. Vijay Y. Tokala
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  5. Vishnu D. Rajput
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  6. Tatiana Minkina
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Contributions

PU, MRC, VYT-Prepared the experiment outline, PU conducted the experiments, recorded data. HSJ, TM and VDR prepared the manuscripts, analyzed the data and corrected the draft and improve the tables and figures. All the authors reviewed the manuscript and approved it to submit.

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Correspondence to Hanuman S. Jatav.

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Ujjainiya, P., Choudhary, M., Jatav, H.S. et al. Impact of Weed Management Practices on Soil Microflora and Dehydrogenase Enzyme Activity Under Varying Levels of Nitrogen in Winter Season Onion (Allium cepa L.). Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 108, 430–436 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03265-w

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