Foliar Application of Macro- and Micronutrients Improves the Productivity, Economic Returns, and Resource-Use Efficiency of Soybean in a Semiarid Climate

Anchal Dass, Gandhamanagenahalli A. Rajanna, Subhash Babu, Sanjay K. Lal, Anil K. Choudhary, Raj Singh, Sanjay Singh Rathore, Ramanjit Kaur, Shiva Dhar, Teekam Singh, Rishi Raj, Kapila Shekhawat, Chandu Singh and Bipin Kumar
Additional contact information
Anchal Dass: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Gandhamanagenahalli A. Rajanna: ICAR-Directorate of Groundnut Research, Regional Station, Anantapur 515001, Andhra Pradesh, India
Subhash Babu: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Sanjay K. Lal: Division of Genetics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Anil K. Choudhary: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Raj Singh: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Sanjay Singh Rathore: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Ramanjit Kaur: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Shiva Dhar: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Teekam Singh: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Rishi Raj: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Kapila Shekhawat: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Chandu Singh: Seed Production Unit, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Bipin Kumar: WTC, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Inadequate nutrient management is one of the major challenges for sustainable soybean production in semi-arid climatic conditions. Hence, a 3-year (2015–2017) field experiment was conducted to assess the effect of foliar application of macro- and micronutrients on the growth, productivity, and profitability of soybean. Eight foliar nutrient sprays at the pod initiation stage—water spray (WS), 2% urea solution, 2% di-ammonium phosphate solution (DAP 2% ), 0.5% muriate of potash solution (MOP 0.5% ), 2% solution of 19:19:19 nitrogen phosphorus and potassium (NPK 2% ), and a 0.5% solution each of molybdenum (Mo 0.5% ), boron (B 0.5% ), chelated-zinc (Zn 0.5% ) and no-foliar nutrition (NFN)—were compared with a basal-applied recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF: 30 kg N, 75 kg P, and 40 kg K ha − 1 ) in a randomized block design (RBD), replicated three times. Foliar-applied chelated Zn@0.5% (Zn 0.5% ) at the pod initiation stage resulted in more pods per plants. In addition to Zn 0.5% , urea 2% , NPK 2% , and B 0.5% significantly improved the pods per plant over treatment by no-foliar nutrition (NFN). The RDF-supplied soybean subsequently sprayed with Zn 0.5% produced the highest seed yield, which was 18.5–37.8% higher than that of NFN treatment Yield improvement due to the application of B 0.5%, DAP 2% , and urea 2% varied between 19.2–23.7, 16.6–20.4 and 18.6–20%, respectively. Foliar nutrition showed the largest net returns from Zn 0.5% . The water-use efficiency (WUE) and production efficiency increased by 18.4–37.6 and 34.9–37.5%, respectively, due to Zn 0.5% over the efficiencies from NFN treatment. Monetary efficiency (ME) gains due to Zn 0.5% were 24% higher, while ME efficiency gains due to urea 2% , NPK 2% , and B 0.5% varied between 15–16%. Thus, this study suggested that the foliar application of 0.5% Zn and B, urea, NPK fertilizer, and DAP at 2%, along with RDF. is a profitable nutrient management option for quality soybean production in a semiarid region. However, nutrient partitioning, changes in soil chemical and biological indicators, and environmental aspects need critical examination in future studies.

Keywords: foliar nutrition; seed yield; zinc; resource use efficiency; micronutrients; soybean (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/5825/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/5825/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:10:p:5825-:d:813350

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().