Effect of Novel Sources of Nutrients, Their Dose and Mode of Application on Growth, Yield and Quality of Indian Mustard [brassica Juncea (L.) Czern & Coss]

Abstract

In order to evaluate the “Effect of Novel Sources of Nutrients, their Dose and Mode of Application on Growth, Yield and Quality of Indian Mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss]” the investigation was carried out on well drained sandy clay loam soil, low in organic carbon and available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and zinc and moderately alkaline in pH during 2020-21 at crop research centre of SVPUA&T, Meerut (U.P.) Novel nutrient sources and their modes of applications with 12 treatments consisting of control, basal application of recommended 100% NPK&S (120:40:40:20), 75% NPK&S(90:30:30:15)+ NPK (18:18:18) 0.5% spray + NPK Consortia seed treatment (50 ml in 0.6 litre water6 kg-1seed)+ Bio-stimulant (625 ml ha-1) + Nano N (4 ml l-1) + Nano Zn(10 ml l-1) in various combinations wereattempted on mustard variety Pusa Vijay in RBD with three replications. The results of the study revealed that mustardgrown with 75% NPK&S + Zn + Bio-stimulants + Nano N + Nano Zn sprayattainted significantly better growth as reflected by taller plants (200.3cm), more no. of primarybranches plant-1(7.5), secondary branches (17.3), tertiary branches (4.2)higher dry matter accumulation g plant-1 (91.4),CGR(9.6g m-2 day-1) and RGR(0.004g g-1 day-1)recorded at harvest over RDF as also noticed by Prasad et al. (2013). Yield attributes and yields viz. no. of siliquae plant-1(255.4), number of Seeds silique-1(12.5), test weight (5.2g), grain yield (22.4q ha-1) and straw yield (102.5 q ha-1) were also higher in the crop as against respective value of 240.9, 12.2, 4.5, 18.6 & 69.2 with 100% NPK&S and206.0, 12.1, 4.1, 13.0 & 55.6with control. The crop contained 4.1%N, 0.72% P, 1.0% K, 0.40% S and 74.2 ppm Zn in grainand 0.52% N, 0.29% P, 1.62% K, 0.18% S and 65.3 ppm Zn in straw. Such crop accumulated 144.7 kg N,45.6 kg P,188.1 kg K, 30.3 kg S and 835.5 gZnha-1. Application of 75% NPK&S with Nano N spray, Nano N spray + Nano Zn spray,NPK Consortia + Nano Zn spray,NPK (18:18:18) 0.5% spray,NPK (18:18:18) 0.5% spray + Bio-stimulants sprayandZn + Bio-stimulants spray + Nano N + Nano Zn sprayworked synergistically and increased grain yields by 2.1, 4.3, 15.6,0.5, 7.0 and 20.5% respectively over 100% NPK&S. Respective increase inoilyield was17.2, 40.3, 123.7, 9.5, 57.6 and 156.4 kg ha-1over 100% NPK&S. Similar result was also put forward by Aziz et al. (2016). Nutrient use efficiency i.e. agronomic efficiency for N,P&K(10.4, 31.2 & 31.2kg of grain in yield increase kg-1of nutrient applied), physiological efficiency for N,P&K (11.8, 56.0 & 13.0kg of yield increase kg-1 of nutrient absorbed) and partial factor productivity for N,P&K (24.9, 74.6 & 74.6 kg of grain kg-1 of nutrient applied) was also better under treatment.Soil organic carbon (0.45 %), available N (155.3 kg ha-1), available P (20.9 kg ha-1), available K (130.8 kg ha-1), available S (14.7 kg ha-1) available Zn (0.81mg kg-1),population of bacteria (0.77No.×106cfu g-1), fungi (0.64No.×104cfu g-1)&actinomycetes (0.59No.×103cfu g-1)) was also higher with the treatment. The crop required an investment of ₹37055 ha-1 and fetched net return of ₹95800with B:C ratio of 3.6 with 100 % NPK&S + nano Zn spray. Similar trend wasobservedby Kumar et al. (2014). Thus, the mustard crop grown with application of 100 % NPK&S + nano Zn sprayhad attained better growth (plant height, no. of branches, dry matter accumulation, CGR,RGR, yield attributes (no. of siliquae, siliqua length,no. of seed silique-1, test weight) yield (grain, straw and biological), nutrient use efficiency, nutrient contentand uptake, oil contentand yield,fetched higher net returns with higher B:C ratio. Soil physico-chemical (bulk density, particle density, EC, pH, organic carbon, available nutrient N, P, K, S and Zn) and biological properties (bacteria, fungi& actinomycetes) were also better under the treatment