Effect of zinc enriched farm yard manures on yield of mung bean and physico-chemical properties of soil

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zinc enriched Farm Yard Manures (FYM) on zinc deficient loamy sand soil and yield of mungbean[Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek.]. Treatments consisted of 15 combinations of three levels of FYM i.e. F₀ (no FYM), F₁ (FYM @ 5 t ha⁻¹) and F₂ (FYM @ 10 t ha⁻¹) and five treatments of enrichment i.e. Zn enrichment (EnZn₁, EnZn₂, and EnZn₃,) at three levels of Zn (2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 kg Zn ha⁻¹) @ 500 kg ha⁻¹ FYM and without enrichment (Zn₀ and Zn₁) at two levels of Zn (inorganic salts) i.e. 0 kg and 5 kg Zn ha⁻¹, replicated thrice in factorial randomized block design (FRBD)during 2012. The enrichment process was started 50 days before their use in kharif season experiment on mung bean. The average improvement in seed yield of mungbean was 1179 kg ha⁻¹. Zinc-enriched FYM and their straight application produced (10983kgha⁻¹)31.86 and 22.83% highergrain yield, respectively, relativeto controlZn₀ (8959kg ha⁻¹).The yield was increased due to enrichment and it was achieved by 9.04% over straight application of zinc. Zn uptake was recorded significantly higher under the EnZn₂ (143.96 g ha⁻¹) which was at par with EnZn₃ (148.23 g ha⁻¹⁾ followed by EnZn₁ (118.50 g ha⁻¹) all thesevalues are significantlyhigher than Zn₀ (92.02 g ha⁻¹).The average improvementin total uptake of Zn by mungbean was 48.71%higher dueto zincenriched FYM than thestraight application of zinc. Theapplication of zinc enriched FYM significantly increased available N, organic carbon and DTPA-extractable Zn with increasing the level of enrichment. The application of zinc enriched FYM had non-significant effect on bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity and moisture retention at 1/3 and 15 bar andCEC than control. Application of 2.5 kg Znha⁻¹which was comparable to enriched with FYM, in terms of higher seed yield of mungbean.