The present research work had been carried out to investigate the effect of different type of mulching with pitcher irrigation on changes of soil properties under brinjal production. The location of the experiment was at farmer’s field in Paschim Medinipur, under Red and Lateritic Zone of West Bengal. Five treatment combinations viz. Pitcher irrigation with jute fiber mulch (T1), with live mulch (black gram) (T2), with coco coir mulch (T3), with babui grass mulch (T4) @ 5 ton ha-1 and no mulch (control) (T5), were applied with the initial fertilizer dose of N:P:K @ 40 : 20 : 20 kg ha-1. The total experiment was done by randomized complete block design with four replication. Result showed that, the yield of brinjal is increased with each mulching treatment attaining the highest value of 17.63 ton ha-1 in treatment T1 which is 41.04% higher than control T5. The moisture use efficiency of the crop, was increased significantly by 69.12% (on an average) due to the treatments over control. Decreasing bulk density with simultaneous increasing of porosity due to application of mulches, led to higher moisture retention capacity and better aggregation in soil. The nutrient supplying capacity of soil had been also increased significantly which ultimately led to higher production of the crop.

Keywords: Pitcher irrigation, Mulching, soil aggregation and Moisture use efficiency.