Soil Properties and Nutrient Uptake by Cowpea with Nutrient Management Strategies in the Vertisols of the Northern Transition Zone of Karnataka, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/aabr.2027.4.01.05Keywords:
Cowpea, nutrient uptake, soil properties, integrated nutrient management, rhizosphere microbial consortiaAbstract
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) is a short-duration, multipurpose legume suitable for diverse agroecological conditions and is commonly grown under rainfed farming systems. It fixes atmospheric nitrogen and contributes to soil nutrient cycling, making it important for sustainable cropping systems. However, declining soil fertility and an imbalanced nutrient supply can limit nutrient availability and uptake and thus crop productivity. Therefore, nutrient management strategies are very important in improving soil fertility, nutrient utilization and crop performance. This experiment was therefore undertaken to know the effect of nutrient management practices on soil properties and nutrient uptake by cowpea during the postrainy (rabi) season of 2025–26 at the ICAR-IIPR, RRS, Dharwad. This study was carried out in a randomized block design with eight treatments in three replications using the cowpea variety DC-15. The treatments comprised 100% and 75% recommended rates of fertilizer (RRF) with FYM (1.0 and 2.0 t ha-1, respectively), microbial consortium seed treatment and foliar sprays of ZnSO4 and FeSO4. The outcome of this experiment indicated that applying 100% RRF (recommended rate of fertilizer) + FYM at 2.0 t ha-1 + microbial consortia seed treatment at 8 ml kg-1 of seed + two 0.5% ZnSO4 and 0.5% FeSO4 foliar sprays prior to flowering and at beginning pod formation stage (T8 treatment) produced significantly higher N, P, K, Zn and Fe uptake by cowpea seed (43.75, 7.08, 20.54 kg ha-1, 35.58 and 123.44 g ha-1, respectively) and haulm (37.24, 6.10, 49.22 kg ha-1, 67.02 and 285.21 g ha-1, respectively), higher soil available Zn (0.56 ppm) and Fe (2.70 ppm) and dehydrogenase activity (44.0 µg TPF g-1 soil day-1) in the soil at harvest of cowpea. Applying 100% RRF + FYM at 2.0 t ha-1 + microbial consortia seed treatment at 8 ml kg-1 of seed application (T6 treatment) recorded significantly more amounts of available N, P2O5 and K2O (228.54, 35.17 and 229.58 kg ha-1, respectively) in soil at cowpea harvest. Hence, T8 is recommended for greater uptake of both macro- and micronutrients by cowpea, whereas T6 is recommended for improving nutrient availability in the soil.
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