Studies on improvement in fertilizer use efficiency of iron fertilizers in Vertisol

Abstract

A pot culture experiment entitled “Studies on improvement in fertilizer use efficiency of iron fertilizers in Vertisol” was conducted during kharif 2015 at Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, VNMKV, Parbhani. The objective of experiment was to evaluate the fertilizer use efficiency of iron fertilizers with combinations of organic and inorganic nutrient sources in Vertisol and response of Soybean to different iron fertilizer combinations. The experiment was conducted with eight treatments viz., T1 - control, T2 - only RDF, T3 - FeSO4 foliar 3 sprays @ 0.5%, T4 - FeSO4 @20kg ha-1+ Vermicompost @40kg ha-1, T5 -Fe-EDTA (Soil application @2.5 kg ha-1), T6 - FeSO4 @20kg ha-1+ DAP @40kg ha-1, T7 - FeSO4 @20kg ha-1+ 10:26:26 @40kg ha-1 and T8- FeSO4 @20kg ha-1 + Urea @40kg ha-1. The experiment was laid out in complete randomized design with three replications. The results emerged out indicated that the significant increase in organic carbon (0.73 %), grain yield (14.27 gm/pot), number of nodules per plant (14.33 and 16.60 at 40, 80 DAS, respectively), number of pods per plant (16.32), DTPA extractable soil micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) and iron fractions (Exchangeable iron, Dilute acid soluble iron, Water soluble iron and Reducible iron) were found in treatment T8 (FeSO4 @20kg ha-1+ Urea @40kg ha-1) followed by treatment T7 (FeSO4 @20kg ha-1 + 10:26:26 @40kgha-1) which was found to be at par with each other. Plant micronutrients concentration (Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) were found to be higher with treatment T3 - FeSO4 foliar 3 sprays @ 0.5% and Significantly highest fertilizer use efficiency of iron fertilizers (19.92 %) was found in treatment T5 -Fe-EDTA (Soil application @2.5 kg ha-1).