Nutrient content, uptake, quality of chickpea and fertility status of soil as influenced by fertilization of Phosphorus and Zinc

A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy farm, College of Agriculture, Bikaner during Rabi, 2009-10. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications, assigning twelve treatments consisting of four levels of phosphorus (control, 20, 40 and 60 kg ha-1) and three levels of zinc (control, 3.0 and 6.0 kg ha-1). The results indicated that N content and uptake in grain increased significantly with increasing levels of phosphorus upto 60 kg ha-1 but N content and uptake in straw increased significantly upto 40 kg P2O5 ha-1. P content and uptake by grain and straw was significantly increased by applying increasing level of phosphorus upto 60 and 40 kg P2O5 ha-1, respectively. Zn content and uptake in grain and straw decreased significantly with increasing levels of phosphorus. Increasing level of phosphorus application increased significantly the available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content in soil after harvest of the crop. Significant decrease in available zinc in soil was observed with increasing level of phosphorus upto 60 kg P2O5 ha-1. N and Zn content and uptake by seed and straw increased significantly with increasing levels of zinc upto 6.0 kg ha-1. But P content in grain and straw was decreased significantly with increasing level of zinc.