Rice cv. HUR105 response to zinc fertilizer combined with microbial consortia and cow dung grown in the eastern plain of Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

The solubility and bioavailability of zinc in the soil determinethe efficiency of Zn fertilizers. A two-year (2018 and 2019) field experiment was performed to study the effectiveness of Zn sources combined with Zn solubilizing microorganisms, ZSM (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus + Pantoea agglomerans) and cow dung, in rice cv. HUR105 in alluvial soil at the Agriculture Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Among various treatments, the treatment (T8) 9.8 kg ZnO ha-1 with ZSM showed better grain and straw yields. However, 25.0 kg ZnSHH ha-1+ ZSM (T6) was found to be statistically comparable to the treatment (T8). The addition of cow dung (CD) decreased the grain yield in T11 ( 9.8 kg ZnO ha-1 + ZSM + 200 kg CD ha-1) and T12 (14.6 kg ZnO ha-1 + ZSM + 200 kg CD ha-1), except the treatment (T10) 4.9 kg ZnO + ZSM + 200 kg CD ha-1. Partial factor productivity of applied Zn varied from 347.2 to 1762.2 and 369.6 to 1855.6 kg grain kg-1 Zn, physiological Zn efficiency varied from 487.4 to 2075.3 and 775.5 and 2035.2 kg grain kg-1 Zn absorbed, agronomic use efficiency of Zn ranged from 20.1 to 189.6 and 28.7 to 180 kg grain kg-1 Zn, the recovery efficiency of Zn fertilizer varied from 3.58 to 11.9% and 3.57 to 11.8% among the treatments in both seasons, respectively. The maximum gross and net return were documented by T8- 9.8 kg ZnO ha-1 + ZSM, and 23.9% and 28.5% over the control due to higher grain yields.