A field experiment was planned and conducted during Rabi 2012-13 to evaluate the “Soil nutrient status of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as influenced by potassium and zinc application in Vertisol”. The field experiment was conducted at the Departmental Research Farm of Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani, was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. There were eight treatments comprising of K levels and zinc viz ; T1- Absolute control, T2- Only RDF through soil (25:50:0 NPK kg ha-1).T3 –RDF + 15 kg K2O ha-1,T4- RDF + 30 kg K2O ha-1, T5- RDF+45 kg K2O ha-1, T6- RDF+15 kg K2O ha-1+25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1, T7- RDF + 30 kg K2O ha-1 + 25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1, T8- RDF + 45 kg K2O ha-1 + 25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1.The results indicated that application of RDF+15or30 kg K2O ha-1+25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1. Available N and P status at various growth stages of chickpea found to be increased up to pod development stage and thereafter N and P available status was decreased. While, potassium availability was decreased from flowering to harvesting stage, where as sulfur availability was increased till harvesting. In respect of micronutrients, no specific trend was noted. However, the application of zinc to chickpea maintained the higher Zn availability throughout the crop growth.

No abstract

The field experiment was conducted the year 2014-2015 on the old long-term fertilizer experiment started since 1983 to assess the longterm effect of integrated nutrient management on soil organic carbon fractions in vertisol under sorghum wheat cropping system. The study showed that there was slight decrease in soil bulk density and calcium carbonate increase in porosity and water holding capacity and slightly increase pH and EC of soil over 33 years of sorghum-wheat cropping system receiving organic manures in combination with inorganic fertilizer. And it was observed that various forms of carbon and fractions of humus tended to decrease with depth and use of organics like subabul and FYM in conjunction with NPK fertilizers exerted a remarkable impact on the distribution and built up of various carbon and humus fractions in soil.

No abstract

A field experiment was conducted during 2014-15 at Water management farm, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani on 10 year old sweet orange orchard to assess the effect of soil and foliar feeding of nutrient application through organic and inorganic sources on yield and quality of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. osbeck). The study indicates that treatment T12 with application of NPK in 8 splits with drip irrigation + vermicompost @ 3 tonne ha -1 and biofertilizers i.e Azotobacter and PSB @ 2000 ml per ha and trichoderma @ 1 kg ha -1 + 8 spraying of Zn (0.5%), Fe (0.5%) and B (0.2%) found to be most effective to producing number of fruits, weight of fruits, and yield and fruit quality parameters like ascorbic acid, TSS, acidity and total sugar percentage.