Response of brinjal to micronutrients in medium black calcareous soils

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research Station, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh, Gujarat, during Rabi 2015-16 and 2016-17 to study the response of brinjal to micronutrients application in medium black calcareous soils of Saurashtra Region of Gujarat. The results revealed that significantly higher mean green fruit yield, stalk yield, plant height, no of fruits per plant, fruit length and average fruit weight as well as S, Fe, and Zn uptake by fruit and stalk of brinjal and soil available nutrients (S, Fe and Zn) were registered with soil application of micronutrients (15 kg FeSO4 ha-1 and 8 kg ZnSO4 ha-1) as per soil test value. While, foliar application of multi-micronutrients supplementation through 1.0% spray having Fe-4.0%, Mn-0.1%, Zn-5.0%, Cu-0.5% and B-0.5% grade-IV at 45, 60 and 75 days after transplanting (DAT) resulted in significantly higher uptake of Mn and Cu by fruit and stalk. The magnitude of increased in fruit yield was 27.0% owing to soil application of FeSO4 15 kg ha-1 + ZnSO4 8 kg ha-1 over control. The application of micronutrients as per soil test value significantly increased the availability of Fe and Zn and application of multi micronutrient formulation Grade-V 40 kg ha-1 significantly increased the availability of Mn and Cu in soil after harvest of tomato crop. The foliar application of multi-micronutrients treatments did not produced significant effect of soil available micronutrients in soils after harvest of crop.