Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics under conservation agriculture components for direct seeded rice-green gram system

Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics under conservation agriculture components for direct seeded rice-green gram system | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics under conservation agriculture components for direct seeded rice-green gram system Gayatri Patra, Dibyendu Chatterjee, Khitish Chandra Moharana, and 9 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3899781/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Continuous monocropping of puddled rice in Eastern India has decreased crop productivity and contributed to the deterioration of soil structure. To address this issue, conservation agriculture (CA) is being developed as a method to promote sustainability of the rice-based cropping system in eastern India. The study was conducted with the objectives to evaluate the influence of CA components on C and N mineralization and to study the impact of CA on the soil enzymes, C and N fractions. At the research farm of ICAR National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Cuttack, a study was conducted using components of conservation agriculture in different combinations. The study included the effects of different components of CA, such as reduced tillage (T), addition of crop residues (R), and crop diversification (D) both alone and in combinations. Standard methods were used to determine carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fractions, mineralization, and soil enzyme activities. Results showed that the addition of residue and crop diversification components (crop residues, crop residues with reduced tillage, crop residues with diversification and crop residues with reduced tillage and diversification) had higher CO 2 -C levels. Carbon mineralization in terms of mean cumulative CO 2 -C (mg CO 2 -C kg -1 ) fit well with first-order kinetics (R2=0.97-0.99), suggesting that degradation is concentration-dependent. Potentially mineralizable N (N0) content ranged from 191.27 to 219.53 kg ha -1 , with the highest value in diversification (D). It showed the highest dehydrogenase activity and nitrate reductase activity, while residue addition in rice-green gram system (RD) showed the highest fluorescein di-acetate and β-glucosidase activities. At all growth stages, diversification (D) had the highest values for microbial biomass C, ammonium N and nitrate N. Correlation study shows a positive interaction between carbon and nitrogen fractions with soil enzymatic activities. It can be concluded that the influence of crop diversification (component D) and residue addition (component R) were more effective in C and N mineralization, fractions and soil enzyme activities than the other component of CA. The beneficial effect of incorporating residues is even more effective when it is combined with crop diversification. The combination of some of the components of CA are as good as complete CA in C and N mineralization, fractions and soil enzyme activities for rice-green gram cropping system. carbon mineralization nitrogen mineralization conservation agriculture components minimum tillage crop diversification crop residue Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Introduction India is one of the largest rice producers in the world, accounting for 20% of all rice production worldwide. India produces around 111.5 million tons of rice in 2017-18 (Anonymous, 2018 ). Nevertheless, at the current rate of population growth, rice production has to enhance to about 30% by 2030 (Pathak et al. 2020 ). In Indian state of Odisha, rice is cultivated in about 71% of the state's total cultivable area during wet and dry seasons (Samant, 2015 ). However, the rice production system of the state faced several constrains. Continuous monocropping of puddled rice reduces crop productivity and contributes to soil structure degradation. (He et al. 2016 ). Puddling, an important operation to increase the water use efficiency and suppressing weed flora, is involved in the destruction of soil structure (Singh, 2011 ). Intensifying agriculture is leading to soil erosion and decrease soil fertility (Foucher et al. 2014 ). Thus, the soil gradually become sick. To counter this scenario, the conservation agriculture (CA) is used as an alternative technique to bring sustainability to the rice-based cropping system in Indo Gangetic plains of eastern India (Chatterjee, 2016 ). Globally about 111 million hectares are now following CA, while India has 1.5 million ha area under zero or reduced tillage (Bhan and Behera, 2014 ). In eastern India, in general and Odisha, in particular, prefers to follow reduced tillage in maize and zero tillage direct seeded rice as reported by many workers (Dash et al. 2017 ; Mohanty and Mishra, 2014 ; Mohanty et al. 2015a ; Mohanty et al. 2015b ; Prusty et al. 2016 ; Pradhan et al. 2016 ; Lal et al. 2019 ). Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) mineralization in soils is highly essential to predict the carbon dioxide emission and soil N availability (Hassan, 2013 ). Native and applied organic matter is stored, transformed, and respired by soil microorganisms. The crop residue application and crop diversification allow the soil to have various carbonaceous substrate which may enhance the C and N mineralization. Additionally, the practice of long term zero tillage also influences the C and N mineralization (Vazquez et al. 2019 ). Carbon and N fractions are also influenced by CA practices. It was observed that, the zero-tillage practice increases the C and N fractions in the surface soils compared to C and N fractions in conventional tillage (Liu et al. 2016 ). Soil biota plays a crucial role in most C and N cycling processes by secreting several extracellular enzymes. These enzymes shave direct impact on soil organic matter mineralization (Basak et al. 2013 ). Our hypothesis is that the combination of some of the components of CA are as good as complete CA. There is a need to evaluate the impact of different components of CA in alone and in combinations in the rice-green gram cropping to find out the best practice. In addition, soil research in relation to CA mainly focuses on changes in its physical (Dash et al. 2017 ; Mohanty and Mishra 2014 ; Mohanty et al. 2015b ) and chemical (Mohanty et al. 2015a ) properties of soils, a few attempts were made to study C and N dynamics holistically. The objectives of this study are: (i) to evaluate the influence of CA components on C and N mineralization and (ii) to study the impact of CA on the soil enzymes, C and N fractions. Materials and Methods Experimental details The research was conducted at the ICAR National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources Research Farm in Cuttack. The experiment started in wet season of 2017 and to dry season of 2021 (5 years). The present research was carried out by collecting soil samples after the harvesting of dry season crop in 2019. The treatments consisted of different components of CA, such as permanent soil cover by addition of previous crop residues (R), minimum soil disturbance by practicing reduced tillage (T) and crop diversification by incorporating green-gram after rice (D) alone and in combinations. The treatments were composed of control, crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD) replicated three times in a randomized block design (RBD) (Table 1 ). Rice variety ( cv Pooja ) was grown in kharif (wet season) followed by with short duration (about 100 days) rice ( cv Sahabhagi dhan ) and green gram ( cv IPM 2–3 , duration about 80–90 days) in rabi season based on treatments (dry season). Table 1 Details of the treatment used in the experiment Treatments Residue Tillage Diversification Control No Conventional tillage Rice-Rice R Rice straw is incorporated in soil (30 cm stubble) Conventional tillage Rice-Rice T No Zero till wet direct seeded rice Rice-Rice D No Conventional tillage Rice-green gram RT Anchored residue (30 cm) Zero till wet direct seeded rice Rice-Rice TD No Zero till wet direct seeded rice Rice- green gram RD Rice straw is incorporated in soil (30 cm stubble) Conventional tillage Rice- green gram RTD Anchored residue Zero till wet direct seeded rice Rice- green gram During dry season of 2019, the experimental plots with conventional tillage treatments were ploughed thoroughly with power tiller, while the zero tillage plots were left as such. The treatments where residues were required, had been left with 30% of the anchored residues of previous wet season rice crop. About 30% of rice straw incorporated with soil in the treatments where conventional tillage was followed in combination with residue. Green gram was grown in the treatments having component D after harvesting of wet season rice. Direct sowing of dry season rice and green gram were done in the month of January 2019 in all the treatments. The N application rate for rice was chosen as 80 kg N ha − 1 and applied in three splits (basal, maximum tillering and panicle initiation stages) using urea. Phosphorus and potassium were applied @ 40 kg ha − 1 each at basal using single super phosphate and muriate of potash. The basal fertilizer was applied only after proper germination at two weeks after sowing. For green gram, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was applied @ 20, 40 and 20 kg ha − 1 , respectively at basal. Moong seeds were also treated with Rhizobium @ 50 g kg − 1 seed and phosphate solubilizing bacteria were also applied @5 kg ha − 1 to soil. Collection and preparation of soil samples Soil samples were collected from the experimental field at three different stages, viz. initial (before sowing) (I), maximum tillering (MT) and panicle initiation (PI) using a soil auger at a depth of 0–15 cm. Fresh, moistened soil samples were stored in a refrigerator at 4°C for the analysis of various soil enzymatic properties, labile C and N fraction, and soil C:N mineralization, and the results were expressed as dry weight equivalent. A portion of the fresh soil samples were air dried before being sieved through a 2-mm sieve and stored in sealed plastic jars for analysis of available N in the soil. Carbon and nitrogen mineralization Carbon mineralization is determined by incubation with periodical trapping of CO 2 evolved in alkali medium. The soil samples taken in Schott bottles were incubated in an incubator at 30 ◦ C temperature. Exactly 5 mL 0.1 N NaOH was kept in a vial hanging inside the Schott bottle to trap evolved CO 2 . The vials were taken out at 1, 7, 15, 30, 45 60 and 90 days of incubation. After incubation NaOH vials were taken out and poured into a conical flask and BaCl 2 was added to NaOH solution and titrated with HCl using phenolphthalein indicator. First ordered kinetic model was fitted and model parameters were estimated (Nayak et al. 2016 ). The C mineralization rate constant (k C, mg kg − 1 day − 1 ) and potentially mineralizable C (C 0 , day − 1 ) were also enumerated (Eq. 1). \({C}_{t}={C}_{0}(1-{e}^{-{k}_{C}t})\) ----------- Eq. 1 Where, C t = C mineralized at time t (mg N kg –1 ). For determination of potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN) the field moist soil samples were taken in Schott bottles, tightly capped and incubated at 30°C temperature for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 45, 60 and 90 days. The bottles were taken out from the incubator and mineralized N was extracted with 2 M KCl. After that, MgO powder and Devarda’s alloy were added to the aliquot and placed in the distillation unit. The N content was determined by titrating with 0.01 N H 2 SO 4 till a slight purple colour developed as end point (Nayak et al. 2016 ). Potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N 0 ) (day − 1 ) and N mineralization rate constant (kN) (kg ha − 1 day − 1 ) were measured using the first order kinetics (Eq. 2): \({N}_{t}={N}_{0}(1-{e}^{-{k}_{N}t})\) ----------- Eq. 2 Where, N t = nitrogen mineralized at time t (mg N kg –1 ). Parameter C0kC was used as a measure of the degree of microbial breakdown of residue and the quality of the soil's organic matter (Nourbakhsh, 2006 ). For the same justifications as for C0kC, the N0kN parameter was also included. Mineralization halftime The mineralization half-times ( \({t}_{\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$2$}\right.}\) ) for potentially mineralizable C and N were calculated from the following equation: $${t}_{\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$2$}\right.}\left(days\right)=\frac{0.693}{k}$$ Where, k is C and N mineralization rate constant. Enzyme activities in soil Dehydrogenase (DHA) activity was measured using of 2, 3, 5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) (Casida et al. 1964 , Nayak et al. 2016 ) was adopted for measurement of. Fluorescein di-acetate (FDA) hydrolysis activities were measured using the method of Adam and Duncan (2001) and Nayak et al. ( 2016 ). β - Glucosidase activity was measured using the procedure of Eivazi and Tabatabai ( 1988 ) and Nayak et al. ( 2016 ). For the measurement of urease activity in soil the colorimetric assay method was followed as described in Nayak et al. ( 2016 ). The activity of nitrate reductase in soils are measured by incubation with coupling reagent N-1-napthyl-ethylenediamine (Krywult and Bielec, 2013). Carbon fraction and nitrogen fractions Microbial biomass C (MBC) in soil was determined using chloroform fumigation followed by extraction (Vance et al. 1987 ). Readily mineralizable C (RMC) content was determined after extraction with 0.5 M K 2 SO 4 ( Inubushi et al. 1991 ) subsequently by wet digestion of the extract with dichromate (Vance et al. 1987 ). Oxidizable organic C of soil was estimated by Walkley and Black (1934) method. Determination of available N was done by alkaline KMnO 4 method (Subhiah and Asija, 1956). The ammonium (NH 4 + -N) was estimated using indophenols blue method (Nayak et al. 2016 ) and nitrate (NO 3 − -N) concentration were determined by adopting the cadmium column run method (Nayak et al. 2016 ). Statistical analysis The data were processed for analysis of variance (ANOVA) for complete randomized block design (CRBD) with eight treatments in three replications to test the differences among the treatment means using “emmeans” package of R (version 4.1) and compared at the p < 0.05 level using Ducan test for all the parameters (Lenth, 2020). Pearson correlation analysis was performed to find out the relationship of C and N mineralization parameters [(C0, kC, C0kC) and (N0, kN, N0kC)] with soil enzymes and C and N fractions. Results Carbon mineralization Higher mean cumulative carbon dioxide-C (CO 2 -C) release was recorded in treatments in which residue was added (R, RT, RD and RTD) followed by when diversification (D) is imposed. Reduced tillage (T) alone and in combination with diversification (TD) recorded 10% and 6% lower CO 2 -C release than residue added (R) plots (Fig. 1 ). The C mineralization in terms of mean cumulative CO 2 -C (mg CO 2 -C kg − 1 ) fitted well in first order kinetics (R 2 = 0.95–0.98) which signifies that the degradation is dependent on the initial concentration of the substrate (Fig. 1 and Table 2 ). The C mineralization rate constant (kC) and potentially mineralizable C (C 0 ) were also quantified (Table 2 ). The potentially mineralizable C varied from 496.2–530.0 mg kg − 1 day − 1 . Carbon mineralization rate constant ranged from 0.061–0.092 day − 1 . Potentially mineralizable C (C 0 ) and C mineralization rate constant (kC) was found the highest in diversification. The C 0 kC factor and mineralization half time ranged between 30.4–47.3 and 7.5–11.3 days, respectively (Table 2 ). Lowest mineralization half time was observed in D (8.5d) followed RD (8.8d) Table 2 Potentially mineralizable carbon, C mineralization rate constant, half time, C 0 kC, standard error of equation and R 2 as influenced by various components of conservation agriculture Treatment Potentially mineralizable carbon (C 0 ) (mgkg − 1 day − 1 ) Carbon mineralization rate constant (k C )(day − 1 ) C 0 kC Mineralization half time(days) Standard Error of equation (SE) Coefficient of determination (R 2 ) Control 496.2 d 0.061 e 30.4 f 11.3 a 14.3 0.97 R 513.8 b 0.092 a 47.3 a 7.5 e 44.5 0.98 T 505.2 c 0.067 d 33.7 e 10.4 b 22.9 0.95 D 530.0 a 0.082 b 43.3 b 8.5 d 39.1 0.97 RT 514.6 b 0.073 c 37.4 d 9.6 c 34.6 0.98 TD 515.0 b 0.070 cd 36.2 d 9.9 bc 26.1 0.96 RD 510.0 bc 0.079 b 40.5 c 8.8 d 36.3 0.95 RTD 516.2 b 0.070 cd 36.1 d 9.9 bc 38.6 0.97 F value 22.8 33.6 46.9 32.9 Pr(> F) < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 [crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)] Nitrogen mineralization Higher mineralizable N in the day zero was recorded in RTD which is significantly higher than control (Fig. 2 and Table 3 ). Potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N 0 ) content ranged from 192.2–222.4 kg ha − 1 day − 1 . Nitrogen mineralization rate constant (kN) ranged from 0.0178–0.0236 day − 1 . The coefficient of determinations (R 2 ) of N mineralization were 0.93–0.99. N 0 kN and mineralization half time ranged between 4.6–5.5 and 28.1–32.3 days, respectively (Table 3 ). Table 3 Potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N 0 ), nitrogen mineralization rate constant (k N ), half time, N 0 kN, standard error of equation and R 2 as influenced by various components of conservation agriculture Treatment Potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N 0 ) (kg ha − 1 day − 1 ) Nitrogen mineralization rate constant (k N ) (day − 1 ) N 0 kN Mineralization half time(days) Standard error of equation (SE) Coefficient of determination (R 2 ) C 192.2 c 0.024 ab 4.6 c 29.1 bc 0.21 0.93 R 212.3 ab 0.021 c 4.6 c 32.3 a 0.08 0.99 T 206.8 b 0.024 ab 5.0 bc 28.9 bc 0.10 0.98 D 220.7 a 0.025 a 5.5 a 28.1 c 0.12 0.98 RT 212.2 ab 0.024 ab 5.1 ab 28.7 bc 0.21 0.93 TD 222.0 a 0.023 ab 5.2 ab 29.5 bc 0.12 0.98 RD 213.6 ab 0.023 b 4.9 bc 30.0 b 0.06 0.99 RTD 222.4 a 0.022 c 4.8 bc 32.1 a 0.11 0.97 F value 8.97 8.74 4.52 10.44 Pr(> F) < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 [crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)] Enzymatic activities Soil dehydrogenase (DHA) activity, increased significantly ( p < 0.05 ) under diversification (D) treatments as compared to other treatments during crop growth stages (Fig. 3 a). It was estimated that DHA activity was increased by 43%, 108% and 127% over control initial, maximum tillering and panicle initiation, respectively. The highest DHA activity was found in PI stage of rice followed by (MT) and initial stages irrespective of all treatments (Fig. 3 a). The treatment imposed with residue incorporation with diversification (RD) at initial stage showed the highest FDA which was 64.61% higher than control, while the highest FDA at MT and PI was reported in diversification (D) treatment by 62% and 22% than control, respectively (Fig. 3 b). Among the different rice growth stages highest FDA activity was found in PI stage of rice followed by (MT) and initial stages irrespective of all treatments (Fig. 3 b). Urease activity was highest in crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD) at initial stage (at par with D) by 97% compared to control. The highest value urease activity reported under diversification (D) at MT and PI stages by 36% and 54% than control, respectively (Fig. 3 c). However it was at par with reduced tillage with crop rotations diversification TD and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification RTD at MT and PI stages. The β-glucosidase activity was highest in diversification (D) at all three stages which were 28%, 27% and 40%, higher than control respectively (Fig. 3 d). The nitrate reductase activity was indifferent at initial stage. The crop residue with diversification treatment exhibited the highest nitrate reductase activity at MT (46.44 µg NO 2 -N g − 1 d − 1 ) and PI (63.53 µg NO 2 -N g − 1 d − 1 ) stages (Fig. 3 e). Carbon and nitrogen fractions Soil organic C was statistically similar in all treatments (Table 4 ). Readily mineralizable carbon (RMC) in diversification (D) showed an increase of 104%, 77% and 55% in initial, MT and PI stages over the control, respectively (Table 4 ). Microbial biomass Carbon (MBC) among the three stages similar trend as that of RMC (Table 4 ). Table 4 Changes in carbon fractions at different stages of rice growth as influenced by the components of conservation agriculture Treatment Soil organic carbon (g/kg) Readily mineralizable carbon (RMC) (µg g − 1 ) Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) (µg g − 1 ) Initial MT PI Initial MT PI C 0.54 106.0 d 149.3 d 222.5 d 141.0 c 150.1 c 252.0 d R 0.62 133.1 dcd 174.6 bcd 244.3 bcd 196.0 bc 205.1 bc 314.4 bcd T 0.58 116.2 cd 158.5 dcd 229.8 d 193.5 bc 161.7 c 257.4 d D 0.64 216.4 a 264.8 a 345.1 a 274.6 a 293.1 a 402.6 a RT 0.59 126.6 bcd 167.7 bcd 235.7 cd 149.2 c 201.7 bc 303.7 cd TD 0.64 140.0 bc 180.2 bcd 247.5 bcd 223.6 ab 235.4 ab 336.1 bc RD 0.68 152.8 b 196.7 b 266.0 bc 241.9 ab 263.7 ab 372.5 ab RTD 0.66 147.7 bc 188.7 bc 271.9 b 233.0 ab 245.6 ab 349.2 abc F value 1.3807 11.58 11.42 13.42 6.36 5.33 7.20 Pr(> F) NS < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 [crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)] Available N was showed highest in crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD) (223 kg ha − 1 ) which was at par with reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD) (219.8 kg ha − 1 ) and these treatments were 24% and 22% higher than control, respectively (Table 5 ). Diversification (D) showed the highest ammonium N in all three stages which were 53%, 32% and 22% higher than control (Table 5 ). Nitrate N at three phases, showed identical trend to those of findings of ammonium N (Table 5 ). Table 5 Changes in nitrogen fractions at different stages of rice growth as influenced by the components of conservation agriculture Treatment Available N (kg ha − 1 ) Ammonium-N (kg ha − 1 ) Nitrate-N (kg ha − 1 ) Initial MT PI Initial MT PI C 179.9 d 11.6 d 20.7 d 33.0 d 2.2 f 6.0 f 13.5 d R 202.2 c 13.3 cd 23.5 bcd 37.2 abc 11.9 cd 10.1 ef 18.0 cd T 201.0 c 14.1 bcd 23.3 cd 35.8 bcd 6.2 ef 20.1 bc 28.1 ab D 203.8 c 17.7 a 27.3 a 40.2 a 22.0 a 25.6 a 32.8 a RT 200.1 c 13.4 cd 22.6 cd 35.1 cd 9.5 dc 13.1 de 20.4 c TD 219.8 ab 16.8 ab 25.8 abc 38.6 ab 16.2 bc 15.5 cd 22.8 bc RD 213.9 b 16.6 abc 26.6 ab 40.1 a 15.4 c 19.4 bc 31.6 a RTD 223.0 a 16.2 abc 26.5 ab 39.9 a 20.3 ab 24.1 ab 27.4 ab F value 27.69 4.71 5.84 6.88 19.66 18.63 16.60 Pr(> F) < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 [crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)] Correlation study Soil organic C was positively correlated with labile C and C mineralizing enzymes (0.28–0.84). However, mineralization half time was negatively correlated to both soil organic C (-0.35) and C mineralizing enzymes β-glucosidase. The C 0 kC factor was negatively correlated with mineralization half time (-0.99) (Fig. 4 a). Soil available N was positively correlated with all N mineralizing enzymes i.e. urease and nitrate reductase (0.38–0.72). Both kN and N 0 kN factors were negatively correlated with mineralization half time (-1.00, -0.69) (Fig. 4 b). Discussion Carbon and nitrogen mineralization The probable reason of higher CO 2 in diversification (D) due to supply of more labile fraction of C (MBC and RMC) to the soil (Table 4 ). In diversification (D), rice and green gram are grown in rotation, resulting the diverse root systems that contribute to a greater input of labile C into the soil (Parihar et al. 2018 ). In an experiment with rice husk biochar, crop residue applied treatments may be attributed to the supply organic C which increase the initial concentration of C to be mineralized. Although it was reported that intensive tillage encourages soil erosion and loss of soil organic C (Lal 2004 ). Munda et al. ( 2018 ) observed potentially mineralizable C does not change much in comparison to no application at lower dose of rice husk biochar (0.5-1 t ha − 1 ), while potentially mineralizable C changed with higher rate of biochar (4–10 t ha − 1 ). In our experiment the potentially mineralizable C was found higher in diversification (D) which contained higher SOC, MBC and RMC (Table 4 ) which is susceptible to microbial degradation (Munda et al. 2018 ). Highest potentially mineralizable N content in RTD treatment may be attributed to the presence of available N in the corresponding treatment (Benbi and Richter, 2002 ). Green gram fixed about 33.6–67.3 kg N ha − 1 year − 1 which may probably increase potentially mineralizable N content in RTD (Havlin et al. 2004 ). Enzymatic activities Soil enzymatic activities at various phonological stages of rice growth were influenced by conservation agriculture. Dehydrogenase is basically a soil respiratory enzyme, which plays an important role in biological oxidation of soil organic matter (Chatterjee et al. 2018 ). In this experiment, dehydrogenase activity increased in sole diversification (D) component and also in crop diversification combination with residue (RD). Basically, the higher labile C fractions acted as a substrate for the microorganism which increased the dehydrogenase activity (Chatterjee et al. 2018 ). In a same treatment, higher dehydrogenase activity in PI stage may be attributed to more release of C through root exudate in that stage (Das and Adhya, 2014; Chatterjee et al. 2018 ). The results revealed that FDA activity, which represents total microbial activities, was increased in the soils growing green gram in conventional tillage after rice (D) compared to other treatments. The FDAase activity was almost unchanged in initial stage, while during the later stages (MT and PI) the addition of fixed N by green gram into soil decreased the C: N ratio of the decomposable materials and faster decomposition which harbours microbes and increased the FDAase activity (Padhy et. al. 2018 ). Urease activity, enzyme that helps in urea hydrolysis, was increased in diversification (D) alone and in combination (TD and RTD) in MT and PI. This may be attributed to the application of urea as top dressing increase the substrate during these two stages and addition of N by green gram support the process further (Dash et al. 2018 ). β-glucosidase hydrolyses carbohydrates with a β-D glycoside bond by splitting off the terminal β-D glucose and plays an important role in the degradation of cellulose to glucose. The β-glucosidase activity was highest in diversification (D) due to availability of easily decomposable organic matter that triggers the β-glucosidase activity in soil (Silva and Gouveia, 2008 ). Activity of nitrate reductase, an enzyme involved in denitrification, increases with the diversification in the combination of conventional tillage (RD). Crop diversification enhances soil performance by increasing the diversity of crop residues and root systems, which enhancing microbial activity (Shah et al. 2021 ). Crop residues on the soil surface reduce nitrate leaching by retaining nitrate ions within the organic matter. This retention raises a conducive environment for beneficial soil microbes that enhance nitrate reduction through denitrification (Lucadamo et al. 2022 ). Carbon and nitrogen fractions Higher soil organic C content in RD treatment may be the due to the addition of crop residues which increased SOC in soil (0.68 g kg − 1 , Table 4 ) (Dolan et al. 2006 ; Chivenge et al. 2007 ). Readily mineralizable carbon (RMC) increased in diversification (D), due to increase in carbon content into soil with diversified cropping system (Upadhaya et al. 2022 ). The practice of conservation agriculture allows to follow the natural regenerative routes like promoting biological N fixation in the diversification treatments, nutrient cycling, soil and moisture protection by residue incorporation which probably enhance the available N content in the soil followed with conservation agriculture practices (Chatterjee 2016 ). Highest ammonium content in diversification (D) may be attributed to the addition of N through green gram. Higher ammonium at later stages may be due to application of urea during those stages, while lower concentration of NH 4 + -N in soil at the initial stage may be due to utilization of majority of this ion by plant to promote tillering and N lost through volatilization (Chatterjee et al. 2018 ). Highest nitrate content in diversification (D) is attributed to the addition of N through green gram, fertilizer that in turn convert to NO 3 under upland condition Higher nitrate at later stages may be due to application of urea during those stages. Conclusion The present experiment was carried out to assess the influence of conservation agriculture on C and N mineralization in soil. It may conclude from this experiment that among the various components of conservation agriculture, the effect of crop diversification diversity was more pronounced by incorporation of green gram in rice-based system. The addition of residues also had a positive impact on C and N mineralization, soil enzymatic activity, and C and N fractions. The positive effect of residue incorporation proved to be even more effective when combined with diversification. The effect of reduced tillage component probably needs more time to show its effect. Better C and N mineralization, higher soil enzymatic activity and higher C and N fractions are the sign of healthy soil which is possible to exist when diversification and residue incorporation are followed in direct seeded rice. Declarations Author Contribution 1. Gayatri Patra did experimentation, data collection, and data analysis.2. Dibyendu Chatterjee* gave conceptualization, did experimentation, and wrote the original draft.3. Khitish Chandra Moharana did data collection, and formal analysis and wrote the original draft.4. Bitish Kumar Nayak wrote the original draft.5. Rahul Tripathi provided resources and reviewed and edited the manuscript.6. Mohammad Shahid gave conceptualization and reviewed and edited the manuscript.7. Dipti Ranjan Pani provided resources and did experimentation.8. Saikat Ranjan Das did formal analysis.9. Bipin Bihari Panda, Sushmita Munda, and Upendra Kumar reviewed the manuscript.10. 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crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)]\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3899781/v1/c6d61e536836da93dd24feb1.png"},{"id":50448816,"identity":"0d4fb2a5-833d-435f-a31f-61a5c06dd3d3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-01-31 16:42:46","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":38962,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMineralizable nitrogen as influenced by various components of conservation agriculture [control (C), crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)]\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3899781/v1/15dc1ffaf00dd990481b8449.png"},{"id":50448817,"identity":"88426b40-92c4-4d9f-b0f9-0f3e6f247f99","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-01-31 16:42:46","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":64090,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e(a) Dehydrogenase activity (DHA), (b) fluorescein diacetate activity (FDA), (c) urease activity (UR), (d) β-glucosidase activity (β-GLU), (e) nitrate reductase activity (NRA) activities at various phenological stages of rice growth [control (C), crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)]\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3899781/v1/37b26c2baf3491d5ae5e2f51.png"},{"id":50448819,"identity":"289e3df2-bafc-40be-90c2-40da0408a10d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-01-31 16:42:46","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":234645,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eCorrelation among (a) carbon and (b) nitrogen fractions with kinetic parameters and soil enzymatic activities [Panicle initiation stage (PI), Soil organic carbon (SOC), Readily mineralizable carbon (RMC), Microbial biomass Carbon (MBC), Dehydrogenase activity (DHA), β - Glucosidase activity (β–Glu), Potentially mineralizable carbon (C0), C mineralization rate constant (kC), Fluorescein di-acetate (FDA), Available nitrogen (Avl N), Ammonium- nitrogen (AM), Nitrate-nitrogen (NI), Nitrite reductase activity (NRA), Urease activity(UR), Potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N0), N mineralization rate constant (kN)]\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3899781/v1/ab12a85034b4ed3582cf6b6f.png"},{"id":50450570,"identity":"2d9d3b6e-9970-4f52-8480-d9f6027d4d47","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-01-31 17:06:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":882181,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3899781/v1/9145da52-2a58-4b6e-acc8-34c72e46e868.pdf"},{"id":50449232,"identity":"b6eeed77-4964-4aed-8f04-eb8c7d156d39","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-01-31 16:50:46","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":532691,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Graphicalabstract.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3899781/v1/d30ce3d087162aa9d82dd2bf.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics under conservation agriculture components for direct seeded rice-green gram system","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eIndia is one of the largest rice producers in the world, accounting for 20% of all rice production worldwide. India produces around 111.5\u0026nbsp;million tons of rice in 2017-18 (Anonymous, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Nevertheless, at the current rate of population growth, rice production has to enhance to about 30% by 2030 (Pathak et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR72\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). In Indian state of Odisha, rice is cultivated in about 71% of the state's total cultivable area during wet and dry seasons (Samant, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR77\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). However, the rice production system of the state faced several constrains. Continuous monocropping of puddled rice reduces crop productivity and contributes to soil structure degradation. (He et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Puddling, an important operation to increase the water use efficiency and suppressing weed flora, is involved in the destruction of soil structure (Singh, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR81\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e). Intensifying agriculture is leading to soil erosion and decrease soil fertility (Foucher et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). Thus, the soil gradually become sick. To counter this scenario, the conservation agriculture (CA) is used as an alternative technique to bring sustainability to the rice-based cropping system in Indo Gangetic plains of eastern India (Chatterjee, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Globally about 111\u0026nbsp;million hectares are now following CA, while India has 1.5\u0026nbsp;million ha area under zero or reduced tillage (Bhan and Behera, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). In eastern India, in general and Odisha, in particular, prefers to follow reduced tillage in maize and zero tillage direct seeded rice as reported by many workers (Dash et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Mohanty and Mishra, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR61\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Mohanty et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR62\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015a\u003c/span\u003e; Mohanty et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015b\u003c/span\u003e; Prusty et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR74\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Pradhan et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR73\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Lal et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCarbon (C) and nitrogen (N) mineralization in soils is highly essential to predict the carbon dioxide emission and soil N availability (Hassan, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). Native and applied organic matter is stored, transformed, and respired by soil microorganisms. The crop residue application and crop diversification allow the soil to have various carbonaceous substrate which may enhance the C and N mineralization. Additionally, the practice of long term zero tillage also influences the C and N mineralization (Vazquez et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR87\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Carbon and N fractions are also influenced by CA practices. It was observed that, the zero-tillage practice increases the C and N fractions in the surface soils compared to C and N fractions in conventional tillage (Liu et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Soil biota plays a crucial role in most C and N cycling processes by secreting several extracellular enzymes. These enzymes shave direct impact on soil organic matter mineralization (Basak et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur hypothesis is that the combination of some of the components of CA are as good as complete CA. There is a need to evaluate the impact of different components of CA in alone and in combinations in the rice-green gram cropping to find out the best practice. In addition, soil research in relation to CA mainly focuses on changes in its physical (Dash et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Mohanty and Mishra \u003cspan citationid=\"CR61\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Mohanty et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015b\u003c/span\u003e) and chemical (Mohanty et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR62\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015a\u003c/span\u003e) properties of soils, a few attempts were made to study C and N dynamics holistically. The objectives of this study are: (i) to evaluate the influence of CA components on C and N mineralization and (ii) to study the impact of CA on the soil enzymes, C and N fractions.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Materials and Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eExperimental details\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe research was conducted at the ICAR National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources Research Farm in Cuttack. The experiment started in wet season of 2017 and to dry season of 2021 (5 years). The present research was carried out by collecting soil samples after the harvesting of dry season crop in 2019. The treatments consisted of different components of CA, such as permanent soil cover by addition of previous crop residues (R), minimum soil disturbance by practicing reduced tillage (T) and crop diversification by incorporating green-gram after rice (D) alone and in combinations. The treatments were composed of control, crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD) replicated three times in a randomized block design (RBD) (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). Rice variety (\u003cem\u003ecv Pooja\u003c/em\u003e) was grown in \u003cem\u003ekharif\u003c/em\u003e (wet season) followed by with short duration (about 100 days) rice (\u003cem\u003ecv Sahabhagi dhan\u003c/em\u003e) and green gram (\u003cem\u003ecv IPM 2\u0026ndash;3\u003c/em\u003e, duration about 80\u0026ndash;90 days) in rabi season based on treatments (dry season).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDetails of the treatment used in the experiment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTreatments\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eResidue\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTillage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiversification\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControl\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConventional tillage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice-Rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice straw is incorporated in soil (30 cm stubble)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConventional tillage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice-Rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZero till wet direct seeded rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice-Rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConventional tillage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice-green gram\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnchored residue (30 cm)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZero till wet direct seeded rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice-Rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZero till wet direct seeded rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice- green gram\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice straw is incorporated in soil (30 cm stubble)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConventional tillage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice- green gram\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnchored residue\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZero till wet direct seeded rice\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRice- green gram\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDuring dry season of 2019, the experimental plots with conventional tillage treatments were ploughed thoroughly with power tiller, while the zero tillage plots were left as such. The treatments where residues were required, had been left with 30% of the anchored residues of previous wet season rice crop. About 30% of rice straw incorporated with soil in the treatments where conventional tillage was followed in combination with residue. Green gram was grown in the treatments having component D after harvesting of wet season rice. Direct sowing of dry season rice and green gram were done in the month of January 2019 in all the treatments. The N application rate for rice was chosen as 80 kg N ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e and applied in three splits (basal, maximum tillering and panicle initiation stages) using urea. Phosphorus and potassium were applied @ 40 kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e each at basal using single super phosphate and muriate of potash. The basal fertilizer was applied only after proper germination at two weeks after sowing. For green gram, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was applied @ 20, 40 and 20 kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, respectively at basal. Moong seeds were also treated with \u003cem\u003eRhizobium\u003c/em\u003e @ 50 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e seed and phosphate solubilizing bacteria were also applied @5 kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e to soil.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCollection and preparation of soil samples\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil samples were collected from the experimental field at three different stages, viz. initial (before sowing) (I), maximum tillering (MT) and panicle initiation (PI) using a soil auger at a depth of 0\u0026ndash;15 cm. Fresh, moistened soil samples were stored in a refrigerator at 4\u0026deg;C for the analysis of various soil enzymatic properties, labile C and N fraction, and soil C:N mineralization, and the results were expressed as dry weight equivalent. A portion of the fresh soil samples were air dried before being sieved through a 2-mm sieve and stored in sealed plastic jars for analysis of available N in the soil.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCarbon and nitrogen mineralization\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eCarbon mineralization is determined by incubation with periodical trapping of CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e evolved in alkali medium. The soil samples taken in Schott bottles were incubated in an incubator at 30\u003csup\u003e◦\u003c/sup\u003eC temperature. Exactly 5 mL 0.1 \u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e NaOH was kept in a vial hanging inside the Schott bottle to trap evolved CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e. The vials were taken out at 1, 7, 15, 30, 45 60 and 90 days of incubation. After incubation NaOH vials were taken out and poured into a conical flask and BaCl\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e was added to NaOH solution and titrated with HCl using phenolphthalein indicator. First ordered kinetic model was fitted and model parameters were estimated (Nayak et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). The C mineralization rate constant (k\u003csub\u003eC,\u003c/sub\u003e mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) and potentially mineralizable C (C\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e, day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) were also enumerated (Eq.\u0026nbsp;1).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e \u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({C}_{t}={C}_{0}(1-{e}^{-{k}_{C}t})\\)\u003c/span\u003e \u003c/span\u003e ----------- Eq.\u0026nbsp;1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere, C\u003csub\u003et\u003c/sub\u003e = C mineralized at time t (mg N kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026ndash;1\u003c/sup\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFor determination of potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN) the field moist soil samples were taken in Schott bottles, tightly capped and incubated at 30\u0026deg;C temperature for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 45, 60 and 90 days. The bottles were taken out from the incubator and mineralized N was extracted with 2\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e KCl. After that, MgO powder and Devarda\u0026rsquo;s alloy were added to the aliquot and placed in the distillation unit. The N content was determined by titrating with 0.01 \u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e H\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eSO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e till a slight purple colour developed as end point (Nayak et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e) (day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) and N mineralization rate constant (kN) (kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) were measured using the first order kinetics (Eq.\u0026nbsp;2):\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e \u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({N}_{t}={N}_{0}(1-{e}^{-{k}_{N}t})\\)\u003c/span\u003e \u003c/span\u003e ----------- Eq.\u0026nbsp;2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere, N\u003csub\u003et\u003c/sub\u003e= nitrogen mineralized at time t (mg N kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026ndash;1\u003c/sup\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eParameter C0kC was used as a measure of the degree of microbial breakdown of residue and the quality of the soil's organic matter (Nourbakhsh, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR68\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e). For the same justifications as for C0kC, the N0kN parameter was also included.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eMineralization halftime\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe mineralization half-times (\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({t}_{\\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\\!\\left/ \\!\\raisebox{-1ex}{$2$}\\right.}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e) for potentially mineralizable C and N were calculated from the following equation:\u003cdiv id=\"Equa\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equa\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$${t}_{\\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\\!\\left/ \\!\\raisebox{-1ex}{$2$}\\right.}\\left(days\\right)=\\frac{0.693}{k}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere, k is C and N mineralization rate constant.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEnzyme activities in soil\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eDehydrogenase (DHA) activity was measured using of 2, 3, 5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) (Casida et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1964\u003c/span\u003e, Nayak et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e) was adopted for measurement of. Fluorescein di-acetate (FDA) hydrolysis activities were measured using the method of Adam and Duncan (2001) and Nayak et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). β - Glucosidase activity was measured using the procedure of Eivazi and Tabatabai (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1988\u003c/span\u003e) and Nayak et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). For the measurement of urease activity in soil the colorimetric assay method was followed as described in Nayak et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). The activity of nitrate reductase in soils are measured by incubation with coupling reagent N-1-napthyl-ethylenediamine (Krywult and Bielec, 2013).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCarbon fraction and nitrogen fractions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eMicrobial biomass C (MBC) in soil was determined using chloroform fumigation followed by extraction (Vance et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR86\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1987\u003c/span\u003e). Readily mineralizable C (RMC) content was determined after extraction with 0.5\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003eK\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eSO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e \u003cb\u003e(\u003c/b\u003eInubushi et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1991\u003c/span\u003e) subsequently by wet digestion of the extract with dichromate (Vance et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR86\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1987\u003c/span\u003e). Oxidizable organic C of soil was estimated by Walkley and Black (1934) method.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDetermination of available N was done by alkaline KMnO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e method (Subhiah and Asija, 1956). The ammonium (NH\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e+\u003c/sup\u003e-N) was estimated using indophenols blue method (Nayak et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e) and nitrate (NO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e-N) concentration were determined by adopting the cadmium column run method (Nayak et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eStatistical analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe data were processed for analysis of variance (ANOVA) for complete randomized block design (CRBD) with eight treatments in three replications to test the differences among the treatment means using \u0026ldquo;emmeans\u0026rdquo; package of R (version 4.1) and compared at the \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05 level using Ducan test for all the parameters (Lenth, 2020). Pearson correlation analysis was performed to find out the relationship of C and N mineralization parameters [(C0, kC, C0kC) and (N0, kN, N0kC)] with soil enzymes and C and N fractions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCarbon mineralization\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eHigher mean cumulative carbon dioxide-C (CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-C) release was recorded in treatments in which residue was added (R, RT, RD and RTD) followed by when diversification (D) is imposed. Reduced tillage (T) alone and in combination with diversification (TD) recorded 10% and 6% lower CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-C release than residue added (R) plots (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). The C mineralization in terms of mean cumulative CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-C (mg CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-C kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) fitted well in first order kinetics (R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.95\u0026ndash;0.98) which signifies that the degradation is dependent on the initial concentration of the substrate (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e and Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). The C mineralization rate constant (kC) and potentially mineralizable C (C\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e) were also quantified (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). The potentially mineralizable C varied from 496.2\u0026ndash;530.0 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e. Carbon mineralization rate constant ranged from 0.061\u0026ndash;0.092 day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e. Potentially mineralizable C (C\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e) and C mineralization rate constant (kC) was found the highest in diversification. The C\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekC factor and mineralization half time ranged between 30.4\u0026ndash;47.3 and 7.5\u0026ndash;11.3 days, respectively (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). Lowest mineralization half time was observed in D (8.5d) followed RD (8.8d)\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePotentially mineralizable carbon, C mineralization rate constant, half time, C\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekC, standard error of equation and R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e as influenced by various components of conservation agriculture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTreatment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePotentially mineralizable carbon (C\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e) (mgkg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003eday\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCarbon mineralization rate constant (k\u003csub\u003eC\u003c/sub\u003e)(day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eC\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMineralization\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ehalf time(days)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStandard Error of equation (SE)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCoefficient of determination (R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControl\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e496.2\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.061\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.4\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.3\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.97\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e513.8\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.092\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e47.3\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.5\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e44.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e505.2\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.067\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.7\u003csup\u003ee\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.4\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.95\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e530.0\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.082\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e43.3\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.5\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e39.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.97\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e514.6\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.073\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e37.4\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.6\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e515.0\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.070\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36.2\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.9\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.96\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e510.0\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.079\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40.5\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.8\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.95\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e516.2\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.070\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36.1\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.9\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.97\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePr(\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;F)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003e[crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)]\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eNitrogen mineralization\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eHigher mineralizable N in the day zero was recorded in RTD which is significantly higher than control (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e and Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). Potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e) content ranged from 192.2\u0026ndash;222.4 kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003eday\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e. Nitrogen mineralization rate constant (kN) ranged from 0.0178\u0026ndash;0.0236 day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e. The coefficient of determinations (R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e) of N mineralization were 0.93\u0026ndash;0.99. N\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekN and mineralization half time ranged between 4.6\u0026ndash;5.5 and 28.1\u0026ndash;32.3 days, respectively (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePotentially mineralizable nitrogen (N\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e), nitrogen mineralization rate constant (k\u003csub\u003eN\u003c/sub\u003e), half time, N\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekN, standard error of equation and R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e as influenced by various components of conservation agriculture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTreatment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePotentially mineralizable nitrogen (N\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003e) (kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNitrogen mineralization rate constant (k\u003csub\u003eN\u003c/sub\u003e) (day\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eN\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekN\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMineralization half time(days)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStandard error of equation (SE)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCoefficient of determination (R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e192.2\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.024\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.6\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.1\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.93\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e212.3\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.021\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.6\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32.3\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.08\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.99\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e206.8\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.024\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.0\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.9\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e220.7\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.025\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.5\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.1\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e212.2\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.024\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.1\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.7\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.93\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e222.0\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.023\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.2\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.5\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e213.6\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.023\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.9\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e30.0\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.06\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.99\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e222.4\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.022\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.8\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32.1\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.97\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.97\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.74\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.52\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.44\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePr(\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;F)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003e[crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)]\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEnzymatic activities\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil dehydrogenase (DHA) activity, increased significantly (\u003cem\u003ep\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05\u003c/em\u003e) under diversification (D) treatments as compared to other treatments during crop growth stages (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ea). It was estimated that DHA activity was increased by 43%, 108% and 127% over control initial, maximum tillering and panicle initiation, respectively. The highest DHA activity was found in PI stage of rice followed by (MT) and initial stages irrespective of all treatments (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ea). The treatment imposed with residue incorporation with diversification (RD) at initial stage showed the highest FDA which was 64.61% higher than control, while the highest FDA at MT and PI was reported in diversification (D) treatment by 62% and 22% than control, respectively (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003eb). Among the different rice growth stages highest FDA activity was found in PI stage of rice followed by (MT) and initial stages irrespective of all treatments (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003eb). Urease activity was highest in crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD) at initial stage (at par with D) by 97% compared to control. The highest value urease activity reported under diversification (D) at MT and PI stages by 36% and 54% than control, respectively (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ec). However it was at par with reduced tillage with crop rotations diversification TD and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification RTD at MT and PI stages. The β-glucosidase activity was highest in diversification (D) at all three stages which were 28%, 27% and 40%, higher than control respectively (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ed). The nitrate reductase activity was indifferent at initial stage. The crop residue with diversification treatment exhibited the highest nitrate reductase activity at MT (46.44 \u0026micro;g NO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-N g\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e d\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) and PI (63.53 \u0026micro;g NO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-N g\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e d\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) stages (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ee).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCarbon and nitrogen fractions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil organic C was statistically similar in all treatments (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). Readily mineralizable carbon (RMC) in diversification (D) showed an increase of 104%, 77% and 55% in initial, MT and PI stages over the control, respectively (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). Microbial biomass Carbon (MBC) among the three stages similar trend as that of RMC (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eChanges in carbon fractions at different stages of rice growth as influenced by the components of conservation agriculture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"8\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTreatment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil organic carbon (g/kg)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eReadily mineralizable carbon (RMC) (\u0026micro;g g\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMicrobial biomass carbon (MBC) (\u0026micro;g g\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInitial\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInitial\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.54\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e106.0\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e149.3\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e222.5\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e141.0\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e150.1\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e252.0\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.62\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e133.1\u003csup\u003edcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e174.6\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e244.3\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e196.0\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e205.1\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e314.4\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.58\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e116.2\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e158.5\u003csup\u003edcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e229.8\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e193.5\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e161.7\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e257.4\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.64\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e216.4\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e264.8\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e345.1\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e274.6\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e293.1\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e402.6\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.59\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e126.6\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e167.7\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e235.7\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e149.2\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e201.7\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e303.7\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.64\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e140.0\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e180.2\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e247.5\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e223.6\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e235.4\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e336.1\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.68\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e152.8\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e196.7\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e266.0\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e241.9\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e263.7\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e372.5\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.66\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e147.7\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e188.7\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e271.9\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e233.0\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e245.6\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e349.2\u003csup\u003eabc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.3807\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.58\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.42\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.42\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePr(\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;F)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNS\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"8\"\u003e[crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)]\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAvailable N was showed highest in crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD) (223 kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) which was \u003cem\u003eat par\u003c/em\u003e with reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD) (219.8 kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e) and these treatments were 24% and 22% higher than control, respectively (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e). Diversification (D) showed the highest ammonium N in all three stages which were 53%, 32% and 22% higher than control (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e). Nitrate N at three phases, showed identical trend to those of findings of ammonium N (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eChanges in nitrogen fractions at different stages of rice growth as influenced by the components of conservation agriculture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"8\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTreatment\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAvailable N (kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAmmonium-N (kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNitrate-N (kg ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInitial\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInitial\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePI\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e179.9\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.6\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.7\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33.0\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.2\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.0\u003csup\u003ef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.5\u003csup\u003ed\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e202.2\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.3\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.5\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e37.2\u003csup\u003eabc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.9\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10.1\u003csup\u003eef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e18.0\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e201.0\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.1\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.3\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e35.8\u003csup\u003ebcd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.2\u003csup\u003eef\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.1\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e28.1\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e203.8\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.7\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e27.3\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40.2\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.0\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.6\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32.8\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRT\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e200.1\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.4\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.6\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e35.1\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.5\u003csup\u003edc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.1\u003csup\u003ede\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.4\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e219.8\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.8\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25.8\u003csup\u003eabc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e38.6\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.2\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.5\u003csup\u003ecd\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22.8\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e213.9\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.6\u003csup\u003eabc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.6\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40.1\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.4\u003csup\u003ec\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.4\u003csup\u003ebc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31.6\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRTD\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e223.0\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.2\u003csup\u003eabc\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26.5\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e39.9\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.3\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e24.1\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e27.4\u003csup\u003eab\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF value\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e27.69\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.71\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.84\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.88\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19.66\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e18.63\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e16.60\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePr(\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;F)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"8\"\u003e[crop residues (R), reduced tillage (T), crop diversification (D), crop residues with reduced tillage (RT), reduced tillage with crop diversification (TD), crop residues with crop diversification (RD), and crop residues with reduced tillage and crop diversification (RTD)]\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCorrelation study\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil organic C was positively correlated with labile C and C mineralizing enzymes (0.28\u0026ndash;0.84). However, mineralization half time was negatively correlated to both soil organic C (-0.35) and C mineralizing enzymes β-glucosidase. The C\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekC factor was negatively correlated with mineralization half time (-0.99) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003ea). Soil available N was positively correlated with all N mineralizing enzymes i.e. urease and nitrate reductase (0.38\u0026ndash;0.72). Both kN and N\u003csub\u003e0\u003c/sub\u003ekN factors were negatively correlated with mineralization half time (-1.00, -0.69) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003eb).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCarbon and nitrogen mineralization\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe probable reason of higher CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e in diversification (D) due to supply of more labile fraction of C (MBC and RMC) to the soil (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). In diversification (D), rice and green gram are grown in rotation, resulting the diverse root systems that contribute to a greater input of labile C into the soil (Parihar et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR71\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). In an experiment with rice husk biochar, crop residue applied treatments may be attributed to the supply organic C which increase the initial concentration of C to be mineralized. Although it was reported that intensive tillage encourages soil erosion and loss of soil organic C (Lal \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e). Munda et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR64\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) observed potentially mineralizable C does not change much in comparison to no application at lower dose of rice husk biochar (0.5-1 t ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e), while potentially mineralizable C changed with higher rate of biochar (4\u0026ndash;10 t ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e). In our experiment the potentially mineralizable C was found higher in diversification (D) which contained higher SOC, MBC and RMC (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e) which is susceptible to microbial degradation (Munda et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR64\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Highest potentially mineralizable N content in RTD treatment may be attributed to the presence of available N in the corresponding treatment (Benbi and Richter, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e). Green gram fixed about 33.6\u0026ndash;67.3 kg N ha\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e year\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e which may probably increase potentially mineralizable N content in RTD (Havlin et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEnzymatic activities\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil enzymatic activities at various phonological stages of rice growth were influenced by conservation agriculture. Dehydrogenase is basically a soil respiratory enzyme, which plays an important role in biological oxidation of soil organic matter (Chatterjee et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). In this experiment, dehydrogenase activity increased in sole diversification (D) component and also in crop diversification combination with residue (RD). Basically, the higher labile C fractions acted as a substrate for the microorganism which increased the dehydrogenase activity (Chatterjee et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). In a same treatment, higher dehydrogenase activity in PI stage may be attributed to more release of C through root exudate in that stage (Das and Adhya, 2014; Chatterjee et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). The results revealed that FDA activity, which represents total microbial activities, was increased in the soils growing green gram in conventional tillage after rice (D) compared to other treatments. The FDAase activity was almost unchanged in initial stage, while during the later stages (MT and PI) the addition of fixed N by green gram into soil decreased the C: N ratio of the decomposable materials and faster decomposition which harbours microbes and increased the FDAase activity (Padhy et. al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Urease activity, enzyme that helps in urea hydrolysis, was increased in diversification (D) alone and in combination (TD and RTD) in MT and PI. This may be attributed to the application of urea as top dressing increase the substrate during these two stages and addition of N by green gram support the process further (Dash et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). β-glucosidase hydrolyses carbohydrates with a β-D glycoside bond by splitting off the terminal β-D glucose and plays an important role in the degradation of cellulose to glucose. The β-glucosidase activity was highest in diversification (D) due to availability of easily decomposable organic matter that triggers the β-glucosidase activity in soil (Silva and Gouveia, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR80\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e). Activity of nitrate reductase, an enzyme involved in denitrification, increases with the diversification in the combination of conventional tillage (RD). Crop diversification enhances soil performance by increasing the diversity of crop residues and root systems, which enhancing microbial activity (Shah et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR78\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Crop residues on the soil surface reduce nitrate leaching by retaining nitrate ions within the organic matter. This retention raises a conducive environment for beneficial soil microbes that enhance nitrate reduction through denitrification (Lucadamo et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR58\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCarbon and nitrogen fractions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eHigher soil organic C content in RD treatment may be the due to the addition of crop residues which increased SOC in soil (0.68 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e) (Dolan et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e; Chivenge et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e). Readily mineralizable carbon (RMC) increased in diversification (D), due to increase in carbon content into soil with diversified cropping system (Upadhaya et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR85\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). The practice of conservation agriculture allows to follow the natural regenerative routes like promoting biological N fixation in the diversification treatments, nutrient cycling, soil and moisture protection by residue incorporation which probably enhance the available N content in the soil followed with conservation agriculture practices (Chatterjee \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Highest ammonium content in diversification (D) may be attributed to the addition of N through green gram. Higher ammonium at later stages may be due to application of urea during those stages, while lower concentration of NH\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e+\u003c/sup\u003e-N in soil at the initial stage may be due to utilization of majority of this ion by plant to promote tillering and N lost through volatilization (Chatterjee et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Highest nitrate content in diversification (D) is attributed to the addition of N through green gram, fertilizer that in turn convert to NO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e under upland condition Higher nitrate at later stages may be due to application of urea during those stages.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe present experiment was carried out to assess the influence of conservation agriculture on C and N mineralization in soil. It may conclude from this experiment that among the various components of conservation agriculture, the effect of crop diversification diversity was more pronounced by incorporation of green gram in rice-based system. The addition of residues also had a positive impact on C and N mineralization, soil enzymatic activity, and C and N fractions. The positive effect of residue incorporation proved to be even more effective when combined with diversification. The effect of reduced tillage component probably needs more time to show its effect. Better C and N mineralization, higher soil enzymatic activity and higher C and N fractions are the sign of healthy soil which is possible to exist when diversification and residue incorporation are followed in direct seeded rice.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. Gayatri Patra did experimentation, data collection, and data analysis.2. Dibyendu Chatterjee* gave conceptualization, did experimentation, and wrote the original draft.3. Khitish Chandra Moharana did data collection, and formal analysis and wrote the original draft.4. Bitish Kumar Nayak wrote the original draft.5. Rahul Tripathi provided resources and reviewed and edited the manuscript.6. Mohammad Shahid gave conceptualization and reviewed and edited the manuscript.7. Dipti Ranjan Pani provided resources and did experimentation.8. Saikat Ranjan Das did formal analysis.9. Bipin Bihari Panda, Sushmita Munda, and Upendra Kumar reviewed the manuscript.10. Amaresh Kumar Nayak provided resources and reviewed \u0026amp; edited the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eAdam G, Harry D (2001) Development of a sensitive and rapid method for the measurement of total microbial activity using fluorescein diacetate (FDA) in a range of soils. 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Sci\u003cem\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e 25:259\u0026ndash;260.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eTabatabai MA, Bremner JM (1972) Assay of urease activity in soils.\u0026nbsp;Soil Biology and biochemistry 4(4): 479-487.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eUpadhaya B, Kishor K, Kumar V, Kumar N, Kumar S, Yadav VK, Kumar, R, Gaber A, Laing AM, Brestic M and Hossain A (2022) Diversification of rice-based cropping system for improving system productivity and soil health in eastern gangetic plains of india. Agronomy 12(10): p.2393.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eVance ED, Brookes PC, Jenkinson DS (1987) An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C.\u0026nbsp;Soil Biology and Biochemistry\u0026nbsp;19: 703\u0026ndash;707.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eVazquez E, Benito M, Espejo R, Teutscherova N (2019) Effects of no-tillage and liming amendment combination on soil carbon and nitrogen mineralization. European Journal of Soil Biology. 1 (93) :103090.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eWaksman SA (1992) Microbiological analysis of soil as an index of soil fertility. III. Influence of fertilization upon numbers of microorganisms in soil. Soil Sci. 14: 321-346.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eXiong D, Gao Z, Fu B, Sun H, Tian S, Xiao Y, Qin Z (2013) Effect of pyrimorph on soil enzymatic activities and respiration. European journal of soil biology 56:44-48.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"carbon mineralization, nitrogen mineralization, conservation agriculture components, minimum tillage, crop diversification, crop residue","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3899781/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3899781/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eContinuous monocropping of puddled rice in Eastern India has decreased crop productivity and contributed to the deterioration of soil structure. To address this issue, conservation agriculture (CA) is being developed as a method to promote sustainability of the rice-based cropping system in eastern India. The study was conducted with the objectives to evaluate the influence of CA components on C and N mineralization and to study the impact of CA on the soil enzymes, C and N fractions. At the research farm of ICAR National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Cuttack, a study was conducted using components of conservation agriculture in different combinations. The study included the effects of different components of CA, such as reduced tillage (T), addition of crop residues (R), and crop diversification (D) both alone and in combinations. Standard methods were used to determine carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fractions, mineralization, and soil enzyme activities. Results showed that the addition of residue and crop diversification components (crop residues, crop residues with reduced tillage, crop residues with diversification and crop residues with reduced tillage and diversification) had higher CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-C levels. Carbon mineralization in terms of mean cumulative CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-C (mg CO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e-C kg\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e) fit well with first-order kinetics (R2=0.97-0.99), suggesting that degradation is concentration-dependent. Potentially mineralizable N (N0) content ranged from 191.27 to 219.53 kg ha\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e, with the highest value in diversification (D). It showed the highest dehydrogenase activity and nitrate reductase activity, while residue addition in rice-green gram system (RD) showed the highest fluorescein di-acetate and β-glucosidase activities. At all growth stages, diversification (D) had the highest values for microbial biomass C, ammonium N and nitrate N. Correlation study shows a positive interaction between carbon and nitrogen fractions with soil enzymatic activities. It can be concluded that the influence of crop diversification (component D) and residue addition (component R) were more effective in C and N mineralization, fractions and soil enzyme activities than the other component of CA. The beneficial effect of incorporating residues is even more effective when it is combined with crop diversification. The combination of some of the components of CA are as good as complete CA in C and N mineralization, fractions and soil enzyme activities for rice-green gram cropping system.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics under conservation agriculture components for direct seeded rice-green gram system","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-01-31 16:42:41","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3899781/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"f22db39f-b41f-4316-8bb0-c0c4a069830a","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 31st, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-01-31T16:42:44+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-01-31 16:42:41","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-3899781","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-3899781","identity":"rs-3899781","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"rHA-KDH7Qsr4HCuvH75dn","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}