I want to make zinc deficient soil for my plant experiments in laboratory. Anyone having knowledge regarding soil science please help me. Thanks in advance.
1. Collect Zn deficient soils based on already done soil test values / soil maps if available
2. Using Zn free nutrient solution without soil -Yoshida or any other solution
3. Using Silica - Zn free material as growing media and we can test desired levels of Zn in that media (Zn deficient and Zn sufficiency levels if you are screening genotypes)
If SIlica means it will be devoid of any other nutrients, so that your results for with Zinc and Without Zinc - will be good. However if you prefer to use sandy soil, then do the soil test for Zn and accordingly you plan the experiment
The best way is to select a soil which is Zn deficient. if you will follow certain other procedures other than growing plants, you are likely to change other properties of the soil.
Since it is a lab experiment, what you have got to do is to bring a sandy soil, wash it several times to expel all nutrients and then prepare a solution contains all nutrients except Zinc. Apply this solution to your pots whenever needed.