1Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
2Micronutrients Division, Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal (M.P.) - 462 038, India
*Corresponding author: E Mail: pstmin@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 7 April, 2014.
Field experiments were conducted during 2004 - 2006 in the Zn deficient light textured red soils with Millets (maize, sorghum), Pulses (green gram, black gram) and Oilseeds (groundnut and sesame) crops as test crops to study their response to graded levels of Zn alone and in combination with FYM @12.5 t ha−1 along with foliar spray of 0.5% ZnSO4 twice. The results revealed that application of 5.0 kg Zn ha−1 with FYM was found to produce comparable grain yields against higher levels of Zn with or without FYM in the test crops viz., maize (6957 kg ha−1), groundnut (1654 kg ha−1) and sesame (830 kg ha−1). However in sorghum and pulses (green gram, black gram), addition of 2.5 kg Zn ha−1 + FYM was found to be beneficial in increasing the grain yield compared to NPK control. Increasing levels of Zn increased the Zn uptake by crops besides sustaining the Zn availability in soil irrespective of crops grown
Millets, pulses, oilseeds, grain yield, Zn levels, FYM, Zn uptake, DTPA Zn in soil
