Soil and foliar application of zinc increased pearl millet productivityin calcareous vertisols of Karnataka

Abstract

A field investigation was conducted in calcareous soil during the rainy season of 2021at the Regional AgriculturalResearch Station,Vijayapura. The experiment was laid out in a factorial randomized block design, with two factors and threereplications.The treatments of the first factor consists of soil application of a recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF), RDF+ ZnSO4 @ 10 kg ha-1 and RDF + ZnSO4 @ 15 kg ha-1 and the second factor consists of control (no foliar spray), ZnSO4@ 0.5%, ZnSO4 @ 0.75%, nano-Zn @ 2 ml L-1 and nano-Zn @ 4 ml L-1 foliar application.The results revealed that the soiland foliar application of zinc significantly influenced on growth, yield and economics of pearl millet. Soil application ofZnSO4 @ 15 kg ha-1 recorded better growth,yield attributes and economics than RDF alone. Among foliar applications,nano-Zn sprays @ 4 ml L-1 recorded better growth, yield attributes and economics, which was followed by nano-Zn sprays@ 2 mlL-1. The interaction treatment receiving soil application of ZnSO4 @ 15 kg ha-1 with RDF and foliar application ofnano-Zn @ 4 ml L-1 recorded significantly higher growth attributes viz., plant height (188.5 cm), number of green leavesplant-1 (7.97) and total dry matter accumulation (186.9 g plant-1), yield attributes viz.,grain weight panicle-1 (16.44 g), moreproductive tillers plant-1 (2.60), panicle length (27.51 cm), panicle girth (3.25 cm), grain yield (2169 kg ha-1) and stover yield(7008 kg ha-1) and net returns (`32,353 ha-1) and benefit-cost ratio (2.89) compared to RDF alone. The study concludes thatthe soil application of ZnSO4 @ 15 kg ha-1 with RDF and foliar application of nano-Zn @ 4 ml L-1 increase the growth, yieldand economic returns of pearl millet grown under zinc deficit dryland soils