Zinc and FYM in Rice-wheat Crop Rotation

Residual effects of Zinc (Zn) fertilizer and farmyard manure (FYM) help in economizing the fertilizer use without any adverse effect on soil fertility and crop yields. No information is available for residual effect of Zn fertilizer applied in conjunction with FYM to rice-wheat rotation practiced in the northern plains, hot sub-humid (dry) ecoregion of India. The present investigation was carried out to determine the residual effect of Zn fertilizer application with or without farmyard manure on yields, cationic micro-nutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn) concentration and uptake of third crop rice and fourth crop wheat under rotation. The residual of conjoint use of 2.5 or 3.75 Kg Zn/ha + 5 t FYM/ha was found most beneficial for increasing both yields and nutrient uptake of both rice and wheat crops.