Table 7 Effect of different sources and method of Zn fertilization on DTPA-Zn and soil microbial activity of post-harvest soil during the experimentation. Means followed by a similar uppercase letter within a column are not significantly different at p < 0.05 using tukey’s HSD test.

Treatments	DTPA-Extractable Zn (mg kg⁻¹)		Dehydrogenase activity (DHA) (µg TPFg⁻¹soil hr⁻¹)		Fluorescein diacetate (FDA) (µg g⁻¹ soil 0.5 h⁻¹)		Soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) (µg g⁻¹)
	2018	2019	2018	2019	2018	2019	2018	2019
Varieties
JS-335	2.67^b	2.56^b	25.1^b	25.2^b	4.7^b	4.7^b	243.9^b	240.1^c
JS-97-52	2.84^a	2.90^a	30.8^a	29.5^a	5.3^a	5.4^a	273.5^a	280.2^a
Local	2.47^c	2.54^b	28.3^ab	27.7^ab	5.1^ab	5.3^a	268.8^a	264.9^b
*Zn fertilization strategies*
Control	2.39^d	2.38^d	25.5^c	24.7^c	4.7^c	4.6^d	244.6^cd	248.5^a
SA-ZS	2.77^ab	2.80^ab	28.1^bc	26.4^bc	4.9^bc	5.1^bc	260.3^bc	253.8^a
SA-ZO	2.68^ab	2.60^abc	27.2^bc	27.9^b	4.9^bc	4.9^cd	261.0^bc	260.9^a
SA + FA-ZS	2.90^a	2.97^a	31.1^a	32.2^a	5.3^a	5.6^a	278.3^a	271.1^a
SA + FA-ZO	2.76^ab	2.74^abc	28.7^ab	26.8^bc	5.1^abc	5.3^ab	261.3^ab	261.8^a
FA-ZS	2.59^bc	2.70^bc	29.2^ab	28.8^b	5.2^ab	5.9^a	274.0^a	268.3^a
FA-ZO	2.57^bc	2.49^bc	26.7^bc	25.4^c	5.1^ab	5.1^bc	255.2^c	267.8^a
Int. (LSD p = 0.05)	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS

Where, the SA-ZS and SA-ZO denotes soil application of Zn @ 5 kg ha⁻¹ through ZnSO₄.7H₂O and ZnO, respectively; SA + FA-ZS, soil application of Zn at 5 kg ha⁻¹ through ZnSO₄.7H₂O + foliar spray of ZnSO₄.7H₂O at 0.25% at pre-flowering and pod formation stages; SA + FA-ZO, soil application of Zn at 5 kg ha⁻¹ through ZnO + foliar spray of ZnO at 0.25% at pre-flowering and pod formation stages; FA-ZS and FA-ZO, foliar spray of ZnSO₄.7H₂O and ZnO, respectively, at 0.5% at maximum vegetative stage, pre-flowering and pod formation stage.

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