Sumithra R., Muthukumararaja T., Poonkodi P., Sathiyamurthy S. and Kalaisudarson S.
Abstract
The study aimed to assess the efficiency of various zinc sources on soil properties and the bioavailability of zinc in clay loam soil, incubated at ambient temperature for 90 days. The results indicated that zinc fractions, viz., Water Soluble-Exchangeable, Complex, Organic bound, Occluded, Residual, Total and DTPA-extractable zinc, significantly increased up to 45 days, followed by a decline as the incubation period progressed across all treatments. The release pattern of zinc from different sources revealed that zinc concentration was highest on the first day across all treatments, and then gradually decreased with time. Among the zinc sources, the application of zinc at 5 kg ha-1 through ZnSO4 resulted in significantly higher levels of available zinc and its fractions, followed by zinc lysinate. Additionally, the application of ZnSO4 at 5 kg ha-1 led to the greatest reduction in soil pH (7.02), while also recording the highest electrical conductivity (0.34 dS m-1).