Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Maize ( Zea mays L.) plays a crucial role in global agri-food and nutritional security. However, extensive soil nutrient mining has emerged as a major threat to sustainability and nutritional quality. A two-year (2022–2023), two-location (New Delhi and Karnal) study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of ten combinations of recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF, NPK), 25% reduced RDF, sulphur (S), zinc (Zn), and micronutrient blend (MB) relative to control. The combined treatment RDF + S + Zn + MB (T 5 ) consistently outperformed. Grain yield was highest in Karnal (7.88 t ha −1 ), 11.7% greater than in New Delhi. T 5 improved uptake of Fe (59–68.2%), Mn (46.8–47.7%), Zn (46.1–67.5%), and Cu (31.6–35.6%). Activity of superoxide dismutase (+9.1%), catalase (+53.3%), ascorbate peroxidase (+66.6%), and glutathione reductase (+202.7%) enhanced in T 5 , while proline decreased (-22.9%). Physiological traits improved, with total chlorophyll (+35.8%), SPAD (+18.6%), NDVI (+44.4%), and membrane stability index (+7.8%) higher than RDF. Soil enzyme activities were higher by 63.2–164.8% under T 5 in New Delhi. Supplementing RDF with S and micronutrients improved maize yield, grain nutritional enrichment, stress physiology, and soil fertility, demonstrating the effectiveness of nutrient application strategies.
Bana et al. (Fri,) studied this question.