Effect of zinc biofortification on growth, yield and economics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out on medium black calcareous soil at Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh, Gujarat during rabi season 2017-18 to evaluate biofortification of zinc in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties through seed, soil and foliar application. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications which comprised two varieties viz., GG 1 (V1) and GJG 3 (V2) and six zinc fortification treatments. The chickpea was grown with standard package of practices. The results revealed that growth parameters viz., plant height, days to 50% flowering, branches per plant, dry matter production at 60 DAS and at harvest, number of root nodules per plant did not influenced significantly with the different chickpea varieties while chickpea variety GJG 3 recorded significantly higher dry matter production at 30 DAS. A significant improvement in 100-seed weight, seed yield, straw yield and biological yield were observed with chickpea variety GJG 3 over GG 1. Significantly higher numbers of pods per plant (45.83) was recorded with variety GG 1. Chickpea variety GJG 3 produced higher net return (₹ 62,508 ha-1) over variety GG 1. Under agronomic strategy, zinc fortification through soil application ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at flowering and pod filling stages significantly improved all the growth parameters viz., plant height, branches per plant, days to 50% flowering, dry matter production at 30 DAS, 60 DAS and at harvest, yield attributes and yield viz., pods per plant, seed yield and straw yield. While maximum net return (₹ 70,322 ha-1) was obtained with the treatment soil application ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray.