Influence of Mulching Practices and Agronomic Zinc Fortification on Physio-Chemical Properties of Soil after Cultivation of Kharif Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

Application of mulch improves soil moisture, fertility, and crop growth, while zinc fortification enhances plant physiological functions, yield, and grain quality. The combined use of these practices can synergistically improve maize performance. The field experiment was conducted during the Kharif seasons of 2023 and 2024 at the Students’ Instructional Farm, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study evaluated the influence of mulching practices and agronomic zinc fortification on the physio-chemical properties of soil after Kharif maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation. The experiment was laid out in Split Plot Design (SPD), with three treatments assigned to the main plots and seven treatments to the subplots, resulting in 21 treatment combinations. Each treatment combination was replicated three times. This design was adopted to efficiently manage treatments as mulching practices, where no mulch, straw mulch and dust mulch are assigned across larger plots, while zinc fortification levels are easier to apply to smaller subplots, facilitating precise comparison of treatment effects while optimizing experimental resources. Result revealed that treatment (M2) Straw Mulch (5 tonn/ha) in main plot demonstrated superior performance, maximum organic carbon (0.53 % pooled after maize harvest), available N, P2O5 (220 and 16.75 kg/ha pooled respectively) and Zn (0.81 mg/kg soil pooled after maize harvest), while Available K2O, Bulk Density, Particle Density, pH and EC remain non significant across the all main plot treatments and all sub plot treatments show non significant to all observed soil parameter except available zinc which is maximum (0.82 mg/kg soil) in (Z5) RDF + Seed soaking with Zn, soil application of ZnSO₄•7H₂O @ 25 kg/ha as basal and foliar spray of ZnSO₄•7H₂O (0.5 % ZnSO₄•7H₂O) at 45 days after sowing (DAS). Research showed that using the (M2) Straw mulch was the best treatment, greatly enhancing important aspects of chemical properties of soil viz. available soil organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc.