Influence of Different Sources of Plant Nutrients on Soil Fertility, Nutrient Uptake and Productivity of Soybean under Vertisols

A field experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture (RVSKVV), Indore during kharif 2013 to study the effect of different sources of plant nutrients on productivity, profitability nutrient uptake and soil fertility of soybean in relation to eight nutrient management treatments (T1: RDF- recommended dose of fertilizer (N:P:K:S @ 30:60:30:30 kg/ha), T2: RDF + Rhizobium + PSB (20 g/kg seed), T3: RDF + 50 kg ZnSO4/ha + Rhizobium + PSB, T4: RDF + 1 g (NH4)2MoO4/kg seed + Rhizobium + PSB, T5: RDF + 5 kg Borax/ha + Rhizobium + PSB, T6: RDF + 10 kg FeSO4/ha + Rhizobium + PSB, T7: RDF + 25 kg MnSO4/ha + Rhizobium + PSB and T8: RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + Rhizobium + PSB.). Highest seed yield (844 kg/ha) was obtained under T4, which was at par with T8. The maximum gross returns (`36,376/ha), net returns (`20,132/ha), B:C ratio (2.24), production efficiency (7.47 kg/ha/day) and economic efficiency (`178.16/ha) was also recorded under T4 treatment. Significantly higher nutrient uptake (52.50 and 22.79 kg N, 3.28 and 6.0 kg P, 17.84 and 24.79 kg K, 85.83 and 382.55 g Fe, 67.50 and 313.02 g Mn and 0.27 and 3.96 g Mo/ha by seed and stover, respectively) were obtained under T4. However, the highest uptake of Zn (41.39 and 40.55 g/ha by seed and stover, respectively) was recorded in T3 followed by T8. While the significantly higher uptake of B by seed and stover (24.17 and 40.80 g/ha) was recorded with the application of RDF + 5 kg Borax/ha + Rhizobium + PSB. Application of RDF + FYM 5 t/ha + Rhizobium + PSB (T8) significantly enhanced the available organic carbon (0.40%), N (174.0 kg/ha) and P2O5 (18.67 kg/ha) which was at par with T4. Higher Fe content in soil (4.81 mg/kg soil) was noted with T6, while maximum Mn (2.0 mg/kg soil) was found under T7. Maximum Zn content (0.56 mg/kg soil) was found with the application of T3, whereas, the maximum Mo content (0.048 mg/kg soil) was recorded in T4.