Soil nutrient status as influenced by different micronutrient management practices in pearl millet cultivars

Two field experiments were conducted during Kharif, 2018 and 2019 on clay loam soils at Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Babbur farm, Hiriyur, Karnataka to estimate the post harvest soil nutrient status in pearl millet cultivated plots. Micronutrient (Zn and Fe) management strategies include application of NPK, deficit iron and zinc through soil, foliar application and FYM enriched with iron and zinc along with PGPR in main plots and three pearl millet cultivars ICTP 8203 Fe (Dhanshakti), ICMH 1202 and WCC 75 (local cultivar) as sub plots laid in split plot design replicated thrice. As compared to the initial soil status, the availability of N, P2O5 and K2O was reduced, while Zn and Fe availability increased in micronutrient applied treatments. The study confirmed that after two years of experimentation, the soil available N (242 kg ha-1), P2O5 (27 kg ha-1) and K2O (286 kg ha-1) was higher with RDF alone (F1) than other micronutrient management practices, while enriched FYM + PGPR (F4) and soil application (F2) treatments were on par with each other and retained higher soil available Zn (0.60 and 0.59 ppm) and Fe (4.0 and 3.80 ppm), respectively. Plots with local cultivar WCC 75 (G3) revealed significantly higher availability of nitrogen (243 kg ha-1) and micronutrients (0.47 and 3.70 ppm Zn and Fe, respectively) in the soil over other two pearl millet cultivars