Effect of Nano-fertilizer on the Performance of Indian Mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss] and Soil Health

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted 2021-21 during Rabi seasons to determine the effect of various sources of nutrient on yield parameters and yield of Indian mustard and soil health under rice- mustard cropping systems in western U.P. and Pusa Vijay variety were used to perform experiment. The soil of the experimental site was sandy clay loam in texture, moderate alkaline in reaction and low in organic carbon (0.40%), low in available nitrogen (241 kg ha-1) and medium available in phosphorus(18 kg ha-1), available potassium(207 kg ha-1), available sulphur (14.5 mg kg-1) and available Zn (070 kg ha-1). The treatments comprised of Control (T1), NPK & S 120:40:40:20 kg ha-1 (T2), 100% NPK & S + Zn 5 kg ha-1 (T3), 100% NPK & S + Bio-stimulants (T4), 100% NPK & S + Nano Zn spray at 40 DAS (T5), 75% NPK & S + NPK Consortia (T6),75% NPK & S + Nano N spray at 40 DAS (T7), 75% NPK & S + Nano N spray at 40 DAS + Nano Zn spray at 40 DAS (T8), 75% NPK & S + NPK Consortia + Nano Zn spray at 40 DAS (T9), 75% NPKS + NPK (18:18:18) 0.5% spray at 40 DAS (T10), 75% NPKS + NPK (18:18:18) 0.5% spray at 40 DAS + Bio stimulants (T11), 75% NPK & S + Zn 5 kg ha-1 + Bio-stimulants + Nano N + Nano Zn spray at 40 DAS (T12). The outcomes of data revealed that revealed that growth parameters viz., plant height, number of tillers, dry matter accumulation, CGR, and RGR and yield attributes characters like number of branches viz. primary(8.1), secondary (17.1), tertiary (4.6) at harvest, number of siliquae per plant (277), length of siliquae (5.4 cm) number of seed siliqua-1¬¬¬(12.3), weight of 1000 seed (5.0g), weight of siliqua plant-1(44.8 g), weight of seed plant-1(17.7g) maximum recorded in 100% NPK & S + Nano Zn spray at 40 DAS(T5) which was statistically at par with T3,T4 respectively. Among the nutrient management practices maximum seed yield (24.2 q ha-1), stover yield (110.4 q ha-1) and biological yield (134.55 q ha-1) was recorded in T5 which was at par with T3,T4 respectively, and harvest index (21.15%) was recorded in T2 NPK & S - (120:40:40:20 kg ha-1 ) which was statistically at par with T10 ,T6 , and lowest harvest index(17.4%) recorded in T12. The soil microbial population like bacteria(0.75x106 cfu g-1) highest count in T12 which was statistically at par with T11 and fungi(0.63x104 cfu g-1), actinomycetes(0.58x103 cfu g-1) highest count in T4 which was at par with T12 and least count in control plot.