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A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of zinc-enriched organic manures on a maize crop. Organic manures, namely farmyard manure, poultry manure, coir pith and biogas slurry enriched with 0, 12.5 and 25.0 kg ZnSO 4 ha -1 were evaluated for their influence on dry matter production, yield and uptake of zinc in maize. The results revealed that the application of poultry manure was better compared to other sources, resulting in a 26.6% increase in yield. By resorting to the enrichment of poultry manure with zinc, it was possible to save 12.5 kg ZnSO 4 ha -1 , thereby saving the cost of zinc fertilizer.

Urea is a universal fertilizer, but its use efficiency hardly exceeds 30−35%, and more than 70% is lost to the environment, causing eutrophication in aquatic systems. This research focuses on encapsulating urea molecules using a ligninchitosan composite. The nanocomposite was developed as a suitable carrier for entrapping nitrogenous fertilizer. Coconut coir contains plenty of lignin, which was extracted using the organosolv process by using ethanol as a solvent. Organosolv lignin (OSL) yielded spherical lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) via the solvent displacement method. Finally, a nitrogen source was loaded into the chitosan/lignin nanocomposite fertilizer (lignorea), which consists of LNPs, chitosan, and a cross-linker. The nanocomposite was characterized using PSA, SEM, TEM, UV−vis, FTIR, and XRD. The morphology of the OSL and LNPs was examined under SEM (626 ± 40 nm) and TEM (26 ± 9 nm). The noncrystallinity of both lignin and crystallinity after entrapment in nanocomposite was validated by XRD. The specific functional group pertaining to the lignin backbone had aromatic vibrations at 1511 cm −1 (OSL) and 1507 cm −1 (LNPs), and the presence of an amide peak after loading N was observed in FTIR. The lignin samples have their corresponding spectral absorbance at 281 and 288 nm wavelengths obtained in UV−vis. The size and stability of the extracted OSL and LNPs were verified by a particle size analyzer and zeta potential, respectively. The compatibility and interactions of the developed nanofertilizer were confirmed with molecular modeling and simulation. The developed nanofertilizer has total nitrogen of 30−35% which slowly releases up to 15 days in the soil. The study clearly suggests that lignin with chitosan served as a perfect template to hold and release N in a regulated pattern that collectively contributes to improved N use efficiency.

for a period of three years (2007-2009) to find out the effect of integrated nutrient management on productivity of hybrid maize. Conjunctive use of 100% NPK + 5 t ha-1 poultry manure recorded significantly highest grain and stover yields. Integration of 100% NPK with FYM and micronutrients viz., zinc and iron recorded higher yield than the treatment that received 100% NPK + poultry manure + ZnSO4 + FeSO4. The lowest yield of 5637 kg ha-1 was recorded in the treatment that received 100% NPK. The uptake of macronutrients by hybrid maize increased with increase in NPK levels. The organic carbon, available N and K status of soil improved due to the application of 100% NPK + 5 t ha-1 poultry manure while the available P status was increased with 75% NPK + 5 t ha-1 poultry manure. The highest benefit : cost ratio (2.52) was obtained with the application of 100% NPK + FYM + ZnSO4 + FeSO4.

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A field experiment was conducted to determine the residual effect of integrated nitrogen management and cropping systems on soil physical and physico-chemical properties during two consecutive years (2015-16 & 2016-17) on clayloam soils of Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla. The experiment was laid out in a two sample t-test for rice in kharif season with 2 treatments consists of M1 100% RDF, M2 (50% RDN+ 25% N through FYM + 25% N through neem cake + Azospirillum + PSB @ 2.5 kg ha -1 (INM) and replicated thrice. During the immediate kharif, the experiment was laid out in a split plot design without disturbing the soil for succeeding rabi crops with the two treatments given to kharif rice as main plot treatments and each of these divided into five sub-plots of consisting of five crops as sub treatments by taking popular cultivars of rice (BPT 5204), blackgram (PU 31), maize (Sandhya), Sorghum (NSH-54), Sunflower (Shreshta) and mustard (Konark). Residual effect of integrated nitrogen management was non-significantly influenced all soil physical properties. Lowest bulk density, highest water holding capacity & porosity values, decreased pH values, improvement in soil organic carbon and CEC was found by Rice-blackgram cropping system followed by rice-sorghum and rice-maize.