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Animal husbandry is integral part of subsistence farming for small holder farmers but non availability of good quality fodder for feeding to the livestock is major hurdle for dairy industry in South Asia. Micronutrients such as Fe deficiency in soil affect yield and quality of forage crops severely. This study was conducted for two consecutive years (2012 and 2013) to examine the effect of foliar spray of FeSO4 on the development, herbage yield, nutritive composition and quality of teosinte grown in Fe deficient alkaline field. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design with set of seven treatments viz. two foliar sprays of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0% FeSO4 at 30, 37 DAS and three foliar sprays of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0% FeSO4 at 30, 37 and 44 DAS. An additional treatment with recommended dose of fertilizer along with foliar spray of deionized water was kept as control. The results of this study revealed an increase of 29.6 to 32.6% in green herbage yield (GHY) and 53.3 to 60.8% in dry matter yield (DMY) with 1.0 and 2.0% foliar sprays of FeSO4 at 30, 37 and 44 DAS over control. Fe foliar spray enhanced nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potash (K) and iron (Fe) content of herbage, however Mn content decreased due to antagonism. Increased herbage quality and estimated digestibility parameters like crude protein (CP), total digestible nutrients (TDN), digestible dry matter (DDM), digestible crude protein (DCP), dry matter intake (DMI), relative feed value (RFV), relative forage quality (RFQ), net energy for lactation (NEL), digestible feed energy (DFE) and reduction in fibers were recorded with three 1.0% foliar sprays of Fe. Gross return, net field benefit (NFB), benefit cost ratio of teosinte crop improved with foliar Fe application. Maximum rate of returns (400%) were recorded with three 1.0% FeSO4 at 30, 37 and 44 DAS. Thus, we conclude that three foliar sprays of 1.0% FeSO4 enhanced the teosinte growth, yield and quality which will certainly improve livestock production.

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Phosphorus (P) is second largest limiting element for plant growth. The phosphate rock which is used in the manufacture of P fertilizers is nonrenewable resource. We have to address to future shortages for sustainable crop production in India. At global level, India ranks as second largest wheat producing nation and contributing approximately 11.9% to the world wheat production from about 12% of global area (USDA 2010). One of the major constraints in boosting up the wheat production is the unbalanced use of plant nutrients, particularly P and K. Average P uptake of wheat is about 3.8 kg P/t of grains (Timsina and Connor 2001). P recovery by wheat from fertilizers is quite low i.e. 15-20% of the applied P is recovered by wheat while the remaining P is fixed as insoluble P fractions in soils (Rodríguez and Fraga 1999). Only 0.1% of the total P exists in a soluble form available for plant uptake because of its fixation into an unavailable form. Increasing prices of P-fertilizers in developing countries like India and high fixation of P in soil have led to the search for sustainable way of P nutrition of crops. In this regards phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) have been seen as the best eco-friendly means for P nutrition of crops.A number of bacteria (Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Burkholderia spp.) and fungi (Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp.) are known to increase availability of P to plants and benefit plant growth either by mineralization of organic phosphate or by solubilisation of insoluble inorganic phosphates in soils through the production of organic acids (Rodríguez and Fraga 1999, Saber et al. 2009, Saxena et al. 2014 ABSTRACTPhosphorus (P) availability limits crop growth in most of cultivable soils in north-west India. The beneficial rhizosphere microorganisms such as phosphate-solubilising fungi (PSF) were found to increase P availability in soil and improve crop yields. In view of this, field experiments were conducted during 2009-2011 to evaluate the effect of seed inoculation with PSF (Penicillium bilaii) at different rates of fertilizer P on P content in leaves and grain yield of irrigated wheat in India. The soil was low in Olsen P at the Bathinda site and medium at the Ludhiana site. In no-P treatment, PSF significantly increased grain yield by 12.6% over non-inoculated control. The effect of PSF on grain yield was generally more pronounced in a soil with low Olsen-P compared to medium Olsen-P level. Inoculation of PSF along with 50% P fertilizer increased wheat yield equivalent to 100% P with no PSF. Spike density was significantly higher in PSF + 50% P than all the other treatments. There is need to study a long-term effect of Penicillium bilaii on P-fertilizer saving in wheat on soils varying in P availability, pH and P fixation capacity for different wheat-based cropping systems.