Effect of long-term manuring and fertilization on content and uptake of nutrients in wheat under sorghum-wheat cropping sequence in Vertisol

A field investigation was carried out at the Research Farm of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Long-Term Fertilizer Experiment (AICRP on LTFE), Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (Dr. PDKV), Akola, Maharashtra, India, under an ongoing long-term experiment initiated during 1988-89 in a sorghum-wheat cropping sequence on Vertisol. The study evaluated the effects of different fertilizer and nutrient management practices on nutrient content and uptake. The treatments included varying levels of the recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) at 50, 100, and 150%, RDF combined with farmyard manure (FYM), FYM alone at 10 t ha⁻¹, RDF without sulphur, RDF supplemented with sulphur at 37.5 kg ha⁻¹ and zinc at 2.5 kg ha⁻¹, NP, nitrogen alone, and an unfertilized control. The results revealed that the combined application of the optimal dose of 100% NPK along with FYM at 5 t ha⁻¹ resulted in the highest nutrient concentration in both grain and straw. This treatment recorded maximum nitrogen content (1.80% in grain and 1.02% in straw), phosphorus content (0.39% in grain and 0.29% in straw), and potassium content (1.48% in grain and 0.67% in straw). Correspondingly, the highest nutrient uptake was observed under this integrated treatment, with nitrogen uptake of 65.67 and 61.98 kg ha⁻¹ in grain and straw, phosphorus uptake of 16.67 and 20.64 kg ha⁻¹, and potassium uptake of 23.68 and 85.29 kg ha⁻¹, respectively, the unfertilized control treatment recorded the lowest nutrient content and uptake, with nitrogen content of 1.58% in grain and 0.69% in straw, phosphorus content of 0.31% in grain and 0.22% in straw, and potassium content of 1.30% in grain and 0.45% in straw. Nutrient uptake under the control was minimal, with nitrogen uptake of 7.72 and 7.59 kg ha⁻¹, phosphorus uptake of 2.43 and 2.43 kg ha⁻¹, and potassium uptake of 2.81 and 12.08 kg ha⁻¹ in grain and straw, respectively.