Influence of iron and zinc on yield, quality of chickpea and status of iron and zinc in post harvest soil

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) isthe mostimportant and ancientpulse crop beingtraditionally grown during rabi season and cultivated mainly in semi-arid regions. The content of iron and zinc in the soil of Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS) is below the critical level. A field experiment to study the effect of iron and zinc nutrition on growth, yield and nutrient uptake by chickpea conducted in the vertisols of the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Vijayapur during rabi 2017–18. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with ten treatments and three replications. Thetreatmentsincluded RPP(Recommended packageof practice) and applicationofiron @ 2, 4 and 6 kg ha⁻¹ and zinc @ 2, 3 and 4 kg ha⁻¹ in combinations along with RPP (RDF (Recommended dose of fertilizer) @ 10: 25: 00:: N: P₂O₅: K₂O kg ha⁻¹). The resultsof theexperiment revealed that, the application of iron and zincin combinationsresulted in significant increase in growth, yield and nutrient uptake by chickpea over RPP alone. Among the different treatments RPP + 6 kg Fe ha⁻¹ +4 kg Zn ha⁻¹ was resulted in the maximum test weight (28.28 g), seed (2065.4 kg ha⁻¹) and straw (1734.9 kg ha⁻¹) yield. Similarly, higher protein content, uptake of nutrients (Fe and Zn) bythe crop and residual iron and zinc statusin soil were recorded due to the application of RPP + 6 kg Feha⁻¹ +4 kg Zn ha⁻¹. These results were at par with the application of RPP + 6 kg Fe ha⁻¹ +3 kg Zn ha⁻¹ and lower values were recorded in the treatment that received RPP alone. Finally it could be concluded that the application of fertilizers containing iron and zinc helpeds to improve crop yield, protein content and nutrient uptake by chickpea crop and residual soil fertility in terms of iron and zinc.