Effect of sulphur and molybdenum on nodulation, protein and nutrient content of soybean cv. Shohag

An experiment was conducted at. Bangladesh Agricultural University Farm, Mymensingh to study the effect of different levels of sulphur (0, 6, 12 and 18 kg S ha-1) and molybdenum (0, 1, 2 and 3 kg Mo ha ) on nodulation, protein and nutrient contents of soybean cv. Shohag. The results indicated that different levels of sulphur and molybdenum had significant effect on nodulation and protein content of soybean. Total and effective numbers of nodules showed an increasing trend with time and both were highest at 90 DAS but at 120 DAS number of nodules decreased drastically. The application of 12 kg S and 2 kg Mo ha-1 produced maximum number of effective nodules plant-1 at all the growth stages. The highest amount of protein,(43.63%) was obtained in the treatment 12 kg S ha'l which was statistically identical with that recorded in the treatment 18 kg S ha-1 (43.62%) and the lowest in the control (41.02%). On the contrary, the application of molybdenum did not significantly influence the protein content in soybean. Application of different levels of S had significant effect on plant N, K, S, Ca, Mg, Zn and B content but molybdenum alone had significant effect on K, S, Ca and B content of soybean plant at most of the growth stages. The quantity of all these elements increased with the age of the soybean plants. The interaction results obtained from the study indicate that 12 kg S + .2 kg Mo ha-1 combination was very responsive to all nutrients studied at all growth stages