Economics of agronomic biofortification of hybrid rice with zinc and iron on methods of rice cultivation

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in College of Agriculture, V.C. Farm, Mandya during Kharif 2014. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with main plot as three methods of rice cultivation and subplot as four micronutrient management practices replicated thrice. Among the method of rice cultivation due to increased yield in System of Rice Intensification recorded the higher gross returns (90568 Rs/ha), net returns (50559Rs/ha) and Benefit: Cost ratio (2.26) compared to the Conventional method and Aerobic methods of rice cultivation. Soil application of zinc sulphate and iron sulphate showed higher gross returns (87309 Rs/ha) and net returns (47387 Rs/ha) due to high yield. Benefit: Cost ratio was higher with Seed treatment with the zinc sulphate at 0.2 % and iron sulphate at 0.1% (2.21) due to the less cost of cultivation than the other micronutrient management practices like soil application of zinc sulphate and iron sulphate and seed treatment combined with foliar spray.