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Background: Soybean is an important legume as well as oil seed crop grown in a varied range of climate and soils. Zinc is an important micronutrient required for plants, animals and human. Its deficiency in soil is a worldwide concern for production of food crops. Therefore two years reseach in two locations were conducted in 2019 and 2020 to study the nutrient content and uptake of NPK and Zn in soybean with zinc fertilization. Methods: A two years research was conducted in two locations under the acidic soil conditions of Nagaland. Nutrient content and uptake of N, P, K and Zn were recorded at first, second year and pooled. The location, climate, altitude and soil fertility status were recorded in both the sites. Altogether there were 13 treatments and 3 replications.The experimental design used was simple RBD. The datas were recorded, analysed and computed statistically. Result: The nutrient uptake of N, K and Zn except P in soybean were significantly found to be increased @ 5 kg ha-1 ZnSO4 H2O + RDF (T9) followed by T8 and T10 as compared to control in both the years and pooled.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop in the world due to its adaptability towards varied agro-climatic conditions. It is considered the Queen of the cereals. It ranks third among the cereals next to wheat and rice. The leading producer of maize is USA with 10.34 t ha -1 followed by Argentina (5.61 t ha-1) and China (5.35 t ha-1). It is the third most important cereal next to rice and wheat contributing about 10% of the total food grain production. Maize is the second most important crop next to rice in the Northeast region of India grown under rainfed upland soils. It is used for direct consumption as well as feeds to the farm animals. The area under maize in Zunheboto district of Nagaland is 10,100 hectare, however its productivity is only about 1.98 Mt ha-1 and hence its production needs to be improved. The soils are acidic in this region and often needs to be reclaimed to increase the productivity of the maize. A field level demonstrations on acid soil management using lime was conducted based on the soil type and pH in upland jhum fields of Aotsakili and Sumi Settsu villages under Zunheboto district of Nagaland covering 2 hectares. It was observed that with the application of lime, the average mean of pH was increased from 6.2 to 6.4 and the mean yield of maize was 2300 kg ha-1 over control (1600 kg ha-1) with B:C ratio of 2.6 over farmers practice 2.2. This technology was found to be beneficial and suitable for neutralizing soil acidity for crop production.

Field experiment was conducted during the kharif season of year 2019 to study the response of phosphorus and biofertilizers on growth, yield attributes and economic indices of black gram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper). The initial soil parameter status were pH 4.6, OC 1.16%, medium in available soil N (256.99 kg ha-1), low in available P (18.95 kg ha-1) and medium in available K (212.56 kg ha-1). The soil was well drained and sandy loam in texture The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design with three replications. The treatments consisted of four levels of phosphorus i.e. 0, 20, 40, 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 and four levels of biofertilizer i.e. uninoculated, Rhizobium, PSB, Rhizobium + PSB. Among the various treatment levels and sources, 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 with dual inoculation of seeds along with Rhizobium + PSB significantly increased the growth and yield attributes such as plant height, plant population, Leaf Area Index (LAI), number of leaves plant-1, number of branches plant-1, Crop Growth Rate (CGR), number of pods plant-1 (30.72), pod length (4.68 cm), number of seeds pod-1 (7.20), seed yield (1120.35 kg ha-1), stover yield (2401.54 kg ha-1) and harvest index (31.80 %) over rest of the treatments. Results further indicated that a higher net return of ₹ 39,811 and B:C ratio of 1.45 were also observed with the application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 along with dual inoculation of seeds with Rhizobium and PSB.

The Zinc deficiency in the soil is spreading worldwide. It can lead to decrease in soil fertility, crop yield and productivity. It is an essential micronutrient required for plants and an important dietary nutrient for the wellbeing of human beings and animals. In Nagaland, its deficiency is slowly increasing and several factors such as shifting cultivation which is also known as slash and burn, forest fire, leaching and runoff and nutrient exhaustion in the soil by the crop may be attributing to its deficiency in the soil. As Zinc deficiency is rapidly increasing all over, a soil survey on zinc availability was conducted in 83 jhum fields under rainfed condition covering 7 villages of  Zunheboto district of Nagaland during 2016-17. The soil samples were collected from the field using GPS and were analysed using standard procedure. It was observed that the Zinc deficiency ranged from 0.26 to 0.55 mg kg-1 which indicated that its deficiency is found widespread in this part of the region. Zinc being an important micronutrient for growth and yield of crops, timely nutrient management through balanced fertilization will enhance soil fertility and crop productivity.