EFFECT OF PHOSPHORUS AND SULPHUR ON SOIL FERTILITY, NUTRIENT BALANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY OF FENUGREEK

R.L. JAT¹*, L.N. DASHORA², M.K. KAUSHIK³, K.M. CHOUDHARY⁴, R.S. DADARWAL⁵, M. CHOUDHARY^6
1Department of Crop Production, ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, 208024, Uttar Pradesh, India
²Department of Agronomy, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur 313001 Rajasthan, India
³Department of Agronomy, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur 313001 Rajasthan, India
⁴Department of Agronomy, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur 313001 Rajasthan, India
⁵College of Agriculture, Bawal, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
⁶ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Agriculture University, Jodhpur, 342304, Rajasthan, India
* Corresponding Author : khokharagro1986@gmail.com

Received : 30-11-2018     Accepted : 27-12-2018     Published : 30-12-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 12       Pages : 1431 - 1434
Int J Microbiol Res 10.12 (2018):1431-1434

Keywords : Phosphorus, Sulphur, Fenugreek, Nutrient balance, Productivity and Soil fertility
Academic Editor : Bharat Meena
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur 313001 Rajasthan, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Field experiment on fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) was carried out in the clay loam soil under agro ecological zone “Northern Plain and Central Highlands including Aravallis” at Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur during the rabi season of 2010-11. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of phosphorus and sulphur on soil fertility, nutrient balance and productivity of fenugreek in Southern Rajasthan. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with four levels of phosphorus (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg P2O5 ha-1) and four levels of sulphur (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg S ha-1) with three replications. The results revealed that application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 significantly affected total chlorophyll content, grain, haulm and protein yield of fenugreek over its lower levels but did not significantly differ with 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 with respect to chlorophyll content and haulm yield. It was also recorded significant improvement in phosphorus content in soil and enhanced nutrient balance after harvest of crop over rest of the treatments. Application of sulphur at 45 kg ha-1 significantly improved total chlorophyll content as well as grain, haulm and protein yield as compared to other remaining levels of sulphur. Furthermore, it was significantly influenced the sulphur content in soil after harvest of crop and also improved the nutrient balance in soil. However, it was statistically identical with 30 kg S ha-1 in respect to sulphur content in soil. Hence, application 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 as well as 45 S kg ha-1, was found to be the best treatment as sustaining the higher productivity of fenugreek with improvement in soil fertility and nutrient balance in Southern Rajasthan.

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