ifra saleem

Adsorption and precipitation are major mechanisms that play an imperative role in immobilization of phosphorus (P) in various texture soils thus limiting the crop yields. Soil organic matter (SOM) can improve P bioavailability by decreasing its sorption in soils. The aim of current experiment was to investigate best organic source to reduce P sorption in different texture soils. Press mud (PM), farmyard manure (FYM), processed city waste (CW) and poultry litter (PL) were used to examine P availability in clay loam and sandy clay loam soils. Organic sources were added at the rate of 10 t ha-1 according to organic matter content in clay pots having 10 kg soil capacity. Phosphorus was added at the rate of 200 mg P kg-1 soil by using KH2PO4 and moisture was maintained at 60% water holding capacity. Results showed higher adsorption of P (122 mg kg-1) in clay loam soil as compared to the sandy clay loam (132 mg kg-1) soil. The Olsen P influenced by organic amendments was in the order of C...

Phosphorus is one of the major plant growth limiting nutrients and in Pakistan its deficiency found in 90% soils due to alkaline calcareous nature of soils. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are efficient in supplying nutrients to plants by solubilizing the unavailable/insoluble (P) in soil or by promoting extensive root growth through 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC-deaminase) activity. This study was conducted to assess the effects of phosphate-soluibilizing rhizobacteria and their impact on wheat growth under axenic conditions. Initially rhizobacteria (S1 to S10) were isolated through enrichment by rock phosphate [Ca3 (PO4)2] and ACC as sole P and N source, respecitively. After isolation, identification and characterization of these strains was done for root colonization, P-solubilization, in vitro ACC-deminase ctivity, auxin production and chitinase activity. The results revealed that rhizobacterial isolate S8 was best strain and showed 2.6 fold higher fresh weight, 2....

A field experiment was conducted at Institute of Soil Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan during 2009 to 2012 to assess the improvement of the nutrients (Zn, Fe, Mn and B) availability for wheat crop with and without application of humic acid. Its effects ultimately on optimum grain yield for consecutive three years. Humic acid was tested with inorganic fertilizers as solid HA(s) 50 percent and liquid HA (l) 8 percent. There were six treatments of inorganic fertilizers with humic acid solid and liquid i.e. T1 (No fertilizer), T2 (NPK), T3 (NPK+ solid HA), T4 (NPK+ liquid HA), T5 (NPK+B+Zn) and T6 (NPK+B+Zn+ solid HA). Data on yield contributing components, grain and straw yield, uptake of different nutrients in grain were recorded. Results showed that integrated use of humic acid solid and inorganic fertilizers gave significantly similar yield. Three years pooled data showed that maximum yield contributing component were f...

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient needed for plant growth, root development and grain production. Application of humic acid (HA) is considered to improve the plant growth and enhances stress tolerance. The decrease in amount of arable land and hiking prices of chemical fertilizers are a huge challenge for farmers. The prices of phosphatic fertilizers, especially the diammonium phosphates (DAP) urge the need to explore the cheaper sources of P. Therefore a three year field study was conducted to compare the efficiency and economics of phosphoric acid (PA) with two other traditional sources of P viz. single super phosphate (SSP) and DAP for optimum wheat grain production. Six treatments applied were Viz. Control, recommended dose (RD) of P from SSP, RD of P from DAP, RD of P from phosphoric acid (PA), RD of P from SSP + HA, RD of P from DAP +

Billions of people all over the world are being affected by zinc deficiency that causes stunted growth and poorly developed immune system. The approach to enrich the grains of food crops with nutrients is biofortification. To overcome the human zinc deficiency, improving wheat grain in zinc status by fertilization is an effective tool and main objective of the work. The wheat grain should have 40-60 mg kg zinc to meet up the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of zinc. A field experiment was conducted on wheat crop to increase the zinc concentration in its grain. Three levels of zinc were applied 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 kg ha as soil application at the time of sowing using ZnSO4 as a source and foliar spray of 0.1% Zn solution was applied at booting and grain filling stage. A control plot was also kept where no zinc fertilization was done to the wheat. The wheat crop gave maximum grain yield (4.62 t ha) where Zn was applied as 7.5 kg ha as soil application Original Research Article Saleem et al.; IJPSS, 8(5): 1-6, 2015; Article no.IJPSS.19739 2 than the treatment where no Zn supplementation was done (4.23 kg ha). The grain analysis indicates that zinc concentration improved significantly where zinc was applied as compared to control (no Zn) plots. It increased in wheat grain up to 39.80 mg kg in treatment where Zn was applied as foliar spray of 0.1% zinc solution as compared to NPK treatment (21.5 mg kg). This increase was 84.8% more than control where no zinc supplementation was done. It is concluded from this study that Zn may be applied to wheat not only to increase the yield but also to improve the grain quality. The daily intake of Zn increased up to 14.3 mg day by consuming the bio-fortified wheat which is near to the recommended daily intake of Zn for an adult person.

Cotton and wheat are two most important crops of Pakistan. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that boron deficiency occurred widely in Pakistan, especially under cotton-wheat cropping system. High soil pH and CaCO 3 content are the major factors of low boron (B) availability in alkaline calcareous soils; therefore, this study was conducted to assess the leftover effects of B on wheat in these soils. For this purpose ten B treatments (0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, 2 and 3 kg B ha-1) as boric acid were applied to cotton. After the harvesting of cotton, wheat was sown in the same plots as a test crop without B application, but all other nutrients were applied at recommended rates. Soil analysis showed that B concentration gradually increased from 0.17 mg kg-1 (at control) to 0.36 mg kg-1 (at 3 kg B ha-1) after the cotton harvest in B application plots. The average highest soil B concentration of 0.24 mg kg-1 was obtained after first year cotton...

Knowledge of different potassium fractions in soils is essential for potassium management to determine long term sustainability of a cropping system. It is generally believed that our soils are not deficient in available potassium due to dominance of illitic clay mineral, therefore farmers usually skip the application of potassium in many crops. But increased cropping intensity and introduction of hybrid varieties are resulting in a considerable drain of potassium reserves and crops are becoming responsive to potassium fertilizer application. This study was conducted to monitor the changes in different fractions of soil potassium viz. water soluble, exchangeable, nonexchangeable and total potassium. For this study two sites were selected from research area of Institute of Soil Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad. In 1 st long term study (since 1978) seven combinations of organic and inorganic sources were used. In 2 nd study (since ...

Present energy crisis has increased the cost of fertilizer production and affected the supply in market. The problem becomes serious when the availability of nitrogen fertilizer especially urea is reduced during sowing season. It is reported in literature that fertilizer efficiency particularly urea application through soil is not as effective as if it is applied to plants through foliage along with soil application. Present study was planned to address this issue so that the yield losses due to non-availability of urea can be reduced by foliar application at various growth stages of wheat and economic use of nitrogen fertilizer. A field study was conducted for three consecutive years at Soil Chemistry Section, Institute of Soil Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute Faisalabad. Soil application of urea was compared with 1% spray of urea (6 sprays; from 2 leaves to booting stage), 2% spray of urea (at two leaves, tillering and booting stage), 3% s...

Zinc (Zn) is critical for the activity of many enzymes including involved photosynthetic CO2 fixation and indirectly involved in the production of growth hormones and internode elongation in crop plants. In this regard, a field experiment was conducted to investigate the comparative effectiveness of the Zn blended, Zn coated and bio-activated Zn coated urea on the growth, physiological, yield, and quality of wheat. Three types of urea were prepared including bio-activated Zn coated, Zn coated and Zn blended urea. The bio-activated Zn coated urea was prepared by inoculating the powdered organic material with Zn solubilizing bacterium (Bacillus sp. AZ6) and then this material was mixed with ZnO. This bioactive Zn was coated on urea at the rate to formulate 1.5% bio-activated Zn coated urea. Moreover, Zn blended urea was prepared by mixing powder ZnO with urea while Zn coated urea with 1.5% Zn was prepared by mixing ZnO and urea under proper moisture conditions to ensure proper coating...

Low use efficiency of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is major challenge of modern agriculture. Coating of conventional fertilizers with nanomaterials is a promising technique for improved nutrient use efficiency. In current study, nanoparticles (NPs) of potassium ferrite (KFeO2 NPs) were coated on di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer with three rates (2, 5, 10%) of KFeO2 NPs and were evaluated for release of N, P, K and Fe supplementation in clay loam and loam soil up to 60 days. The NPs were characterized for crystal assemblage, bond formation, morphology and configuration using the x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform-infra red spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results showed that size of NPs ranged between 7 and 18 nm. The controlled release of P in 10% KFeO2 nano-coated DAP was observed throughout the incubation period. The P release kept on increasing from day-1 (14.5 µg g-1) to day-60 (178.6 µg g-1) in coated DAP (10%) in loam soil. The maximum release of 50.4 µg g-1 NH4+1-N in coated DAP (10%) was observed after 30 days of incubation. The release of NO3-1-N was consistent up to 45 and 60 days in clay loam and loam soil, respectively. The average release of potassium and iron in 60 days was 19.7 µg g-1 and 7.3 µg g-1 higher in 10% coated DAP than traditional DAP in clay loam soil. It was concluded that KFeO2 nano-coated DAP supplied P and mineral N for longer period of time in both soils, and some higher coating levels should be tested in future.

The study was conducted to evaluate the response of hybrid maize towards zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) fertilization applied both as soil and foliar application. It is a possible way to increase the zinc and iron concentration in maize grain by the application of Zn and Fe fertilizers. To verify the claim an experiment was conducted. Maize hybrid was selected and three levels of Zn & Fe (viz.10, 20 and 30 kg ha-1) were applied at the sowing time. The foliar appliance of zinc sulphate and iron sulphate at the rate of 0.1% Zn and Fe was applied. Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium were applied at recommended levels. There was a control plot with no use of Zn and Fe. Maize crop was harvested, grains were separated. Maize grain yield was recorded and analyzed for their Zn and Fe Original Research Article Saleem et al.; JAERI, 7(4): 1-6, 2016; Article no.JAERI.24532 2 content. The results indicated that maize grain yield and their Zn and Fe content responded positively towards Zn and Fe application applied as soil or foliar application. The 30 kg of Zn and Fe ha-1 gave highest grain yield (7.76 t ha-1) which is at par with 7.64 t ha-1 grain yield from the plots receiving 20 kg of Zn and Fe/ha. The foliar reliance of Zn and Fe application raised the grain Zn (31.8 mg kg-1) and Fe (153.8 mg kg-1) contents. This increase is 55% and 51.8% in case of Zn & Fe, respectively over control. It is concluded from the study that iron and zinc fertilization is an effective way to increase corn yield, their concentration in maize grain and finally to get better quality corn.