Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(2): 1259-1268 1259 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.802.147 Study of Physico-Chemical Properties of Soil and Availability of Nutrients in Maize-Wheat Cropping Sequence S.C. Meena*, Bajrang Bali, Vishakha Bansa, Dharmendra Singh, S.R. Meena and Mahendra Yadav Department of Soil Science, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Indian agriculture is passing through a critical phase. It is confounded with increasing crop production, sustainability and environmental quality issues. Answers to these questions can be sought by the long-term experiments, which are valuable repositories of information regarding the sustainability of intensive agriculture. Sustainability in crop production has always been tough task. It requires a deep knowledge and wisdom of pedo-edapho- meteorological interactions under investigation. Besides irrigation, nutrient management is the single most important factor affecting crop yields for the particular genotype. It is more so in the intensive cropping. Indian soils have become deficient not only in major plant nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and in some cases, potash but also International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 02 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present study was conducted to know the physico-chemical properties of soil and availability of nutrients. It was observed that physico-chemical properties of soil significantly influenced by various treatments. pH values varies from 8.18 to 8.30 during 2015-16 and 8.18 to 8.34 during 2016-17. It is evident from the data, the application of 150% NPK in treatment T 11 significantly increases to 0.88 as compared to 0.84 under control plot). A critical perusal of data indicate that the highest organic carbon 0.92 and 0.97 per cent was obtained during 2015-16 and 2016-17, respectively with application of FYM 20 t ha -1 . The bulk density varies from 1.30 to 1.42 Mg m -3 and 1.26 to 1.41 Mg m -3 during 2015-16 and 2016-17 under different treatments. The significantly maximum water holding capacity was recorded (48.88, 49.00 and 48.94 %) with the application of FYM 20 t ha -1 (T 12 ). The sand content of experimental plots ranged from 37.68 to 38.65 per cent with a mean value of 38.11. The highest available nitrogen 457 and 453 kg ha -1 , potassium 596 and 595 kg ha -1 , sulphur 23.76 and 23.68 mg ha -1 , DTPA extractable zinc 3.66 and 3.59 ppm, DTPA extractable iron 3.72, copper 2.52, 2.48 and 2.50 ppm was recorded by application of 100% NPK + FYM 10 t ha -1 (T 9 ) treatments and manganese 13.52 and 13.36 ppm were recorded. Keywords Physico-chemical, Soil, Availability and nutrients Accepted: 10 January 2019 Available Online: 10 February 2019 Article Info