~ 2430 ~    Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2017; 6(6): 2430-2432 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2017; 6(6): 2430-2432 Received: 15-09-2017 Accepted: 17-10-2017 Anusuiya Panda Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, CG, India Awanish kumar ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, UP, India RK Bajpai Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, CG, India Correspondence Anusuiya Panda Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Krishak Nagar, Raipur, CG, India Effect of organic resources and Subabul (Leucaena leucocephala) biochar on competitive ability of barley crop in acidic soil Anusuiya Panda, Awanish Kumar and RK Bajpai Abstract Soil amendment with organic resources is currently proposed as a management strategy to improve soil quality and enhance crop productivity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of organic resources, farmyard manure (FYM) and Subabul (Leucaena Leucocephala) biochar along with inorganic fertilizers on the competitive ability of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) biomass production. The treatments included thirteen selected combination of organic, inorganic and biochar. The experiment was led out in a completely randomized design with three replications in Alfisols. Results revealed that barley biomass yield and some yield components significantly responded to the FYM and biochar applications. The highest total fresh biomass yield (32.6 g pot -1 ) and dry biomass yield (6.18 g pot -1 ) were obtained from application of soil + NPK + FYM 1% + Biochar 3% (T13) as compared to control (17.5 g pot -1 ) T1. The treatments T11 (31.3 g pot -1 ) and T12 (32.4 g pot -1 ) both were recorded significantly at par to each other and significantly higher over control (T1). We conclude that application of organic amendments optimizes biomass of barley plants. Keywords: Leucaena leucocephala, barley crop, acidic soil, soil quality Introduction Soil acidity is a serious problem for crop production in many regions of India. Agriculture land affected by acidity is estimated at 4 billion ha, representing 30% of the total ice-free land area of the world (Sumner and Noble, 2003) [12] . Soil acidity affects nearly 50 percent of the world’s potentially arable land, particularly in humid tropics regions (Von Uexkull and Mutert, 1995) [15] . Liming is the conventional practices, yet lime is costly and may not be available in some places. Biochar derived from natural organic materials (woody debris, corn stalks, macadamia shell etc.) is a stable form of charcoal produced in a high temperature, low oxygen process, such as control pyrolysis of organic materials (Berek et al., 2011) [3] . Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) a member of the grassy family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Barley grains are commonly made into malt in a traditional and ancient method of preparation. In 2014, barley was ranked fourth among grains in quantity produced (144 million tonnes) behind maize, rice and wheat. Barley is more tolerant of soil salinity than wheat. The major production states of Barley in India are Rajasthan, UP, MP, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, and Jammu & Kashmir. It can be grown on wide range of soils including saline, sodic and lighter soils. Acidic soils are not suitable for barley cultivation. Our research showed that organic resources could replace lime and cultivate barley crop. Therefore increasing productivity of this crop could be achieved by ameliorating the soil conditions and improving the fertility of soils. Leaching of nutrients from agricultural soils depletes soil fertility and accelerates soil acidification that aggravates crop yield reduction. Nutrient leaching varies substantially with rainfall intensity and soil properties (Juo and Manu, 1996) [2] . Recent research has shown that additions of composts, green, or animal manures reduce Al 3+ toxicity and increase crop yields (Hue and Amien, 1989; Wong and Swift, 2003; Vieira et al., 2009) [5, 17] . When biochar applied as a soil amendment, it improves crop yield by stimulation of beneficial soil microbes such as mycorrhizal fungi (Warnock et al., 2007) [16] , improves water holding capacity, and soil physical properties, (Kramer et al., 2004; Liang et al., 2010; Ogawa and Okimori, 2010) [6, 7, 10] and store carbon for long time, ameliorates degraded soils and reduces soil acidity (Major et al., 2010) [8] . Long term fertilizer experiments conducted in different locations of India also indicated FYM efficacy at par with lime in obtaining the good yield of crops. Here in all locations,