Impact of coated fertilizers and organic manure on soil health and productivity indicators in rice-based cropping systems of the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains of India

Context: Sustainable soil management is crucial for mitigating the adverse effects of climate change and intensive farming in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (EIGPs). Rice-based cropping systems dominate the region, but their long-term viability depends on optimizing nutrient management scenario to enhance productivity, economic efficiency, and soil health. Objective: This study evaluates the impact of coated fertilizers and organic manure (OM) on system productivity, economic returns, and soil health in three rice-based cropping systems (Cs)-rice-potato (R-P), rice-wheat (R-W), and rice-rice (R-R). The goal is to identify the most effective nutrient management strategy for sustainable intensification. Methods: A field experiment (2019-21) was conducted at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya, West Bengal. The study assessed different nutrient management scenario, particularly the application of 75 % NPK (PSCU) + 25 % N from farmyard manure (FYM) during kharif and vermicompost (VC) during rabi (Sc5), in the three cropping systems. Results: The R-P (Cs3) system with Sc5 significantly increased system productivity (+77 %), production efficiency (+72 %), economic efficiency (+64 %), and water-use efficiency (+113 %) compared to other cropping systems and nutrient management scenario. The R-W system showed the highest land-use efficiency (67.1 %), followed by R-R (63.0 %) and R-P (58.9 %). The R-P system improved soil health, increasing total water-stable aggregates (+10.6 %), mean weight diameter (+26.8 %), hydraulic conductivity (+10.4 %), organic carbon (+11.3 %), and available macronutrients (+13.2 %). Microbial biomass carbon (+15 %), phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (+26 %), and enzymatic activity (+20.6 %) also improved. Active carbon pool (+6.54 %), passive carbon pool (+3.57 %), carbon pool index (+3.84 %), and carbon management index (+6.17 %) recorded significant gains. Sc5 achieved the highest system productivity (18,526 kg ha-1), production efficiency (86.2 kg ha-1 day-1),