The importance of micronutrients has been realized when micronutrient deficiencies were observed in most of the soils of our country which in turn hamper the sustainability of crop production. The farmers are too reluctant to use micronutrients in their own field owing to lack of knowledge about it. Based on this scenario AICRP-MSPE project was initiated and it was implemented in our centre in the year 2009 under the supervision of Prof. G. C. Hazra as Scientist-in-Charge. In a very short period of time this centre has delineated micro and secondary nutrients of 14 districts of West Bengal and also prepared soil ATLAS at block level with the help of NATMO, Govt. of India which has been appreciated from various corners particularly by the Govt. of West Bengal and also by the ICAR. Through this delineation, micronutrient deficient areas are delineated at the block level of a district which will be very helpful to guide the farmers whether micronutrients would have to apply or not in his/her field.
Besides this, during this short period this centre has developed various technologies for alleviation of micronutrient deficiency which will immensely help to increase the crop productivity as well as to improve the quality of the produce. Heavy metal pollution and arsenic toxicity in various locations of West Bengal were also evaluated.
Recently QRT evaluation of AICRP-micro and secondary nutrients and pollutant elements in soils and plants throughout India was done during the period January to March, 2018 and as per the assessment of QRT our centre i.e. BCKV centre has been selected as the best centre in the eastern region of India. This is a very prestigious matter of our University.

Year of start/ establishment of the project: 12.05.2009

• Scientist-in-Charge- 1 (Non remunerative)
• Research Associate- 1
• Senior Research Fellow-1

A laboratory has been developed with the following instrumental facilities -

• Single distillation apparatus (Borosil)
• Digital pH meter (Systronics)
• Electronic balance
• GPS
• Computer and printer
• Sand hot plate
• Mechanical hot air drier
• Horizontal shaking machine
• Spectrophotometer (Systronics)
• Turbidity meter
• Muffle furnace
• Willy mill grinder
• Centrifuge (Eltek)
• Rotary shaker and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer.

• Delineation and reassessment of micro and secondary nutrients deficient areas and updating soil fertility maps
• Refinement of critical values of micro and secondary nutrients in soils and standardization of soil test methods
• Amelioration of micro and secondary nutrient deficiency in crops.
• Assessing influence of P build up on the availability of micronutrients in soils and its nutrition.
• Monitoring of heavy metal toxicity in relation to soil-plant-human/animal continuum.
• Delineation of As pollution in different districts of West Bengal.

• Zn application @ 5 Kg ha -1 as basal with one foliar spray at the time of maximum tillering stage increased the rice yield to the tune of 11-21% on an average.
• Experiment on biofortification of Zn in rice showed that Zn application through soil plus foliar was effective to increase its content both in grains and straw. Foliar application @0.5% ZnSO4.7H2O should be done at two stages- one at maximum tillering stage and another at booting stage.
• B deficiency alleviated through B-spraying @ 0.25% borax / solubor and two sprays are sufficient in most of the crops – one maximum foliage and another at before flowering. On an average B-spraying helps to increase the yield about 10% over control in case of wheat, mustard, cabbage and cauliflower.
• Gypsum application @40 kg/bigha for groundnut cultivation was very much effective to increase the yield of groundnut and on an average it caused 20% yield increase.
• Both calcite and basic slag as a liming material increased the grain yield of rice in acid soils of West Bengal. They were effective when applied @ 1/5th Lime Requirement (LR) dose than 1/10th LR. On an average basic slag @6.7 quintal/bigha singly caused 20% increase in rice yield over control.