Influence of foliar nutrition of ZnSO4 and GA3 on Physiological, biochemical and yield parameters of maize (Zea maize L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at Agriculture College Farm, Raichur during kharif 2018. an enttitled Influence of foliar nutrition of ZnSO4 and GA3 on physiological, biochemical and yield parameters of maize (zea mays L.). The experiment was laid out in Factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with eighteen treatments. The treatments were foliar nutrition of ZnSO4@ 0.25 per cent, ZnSO4 @ 0.5 per cent and ZnSO4 @1.0 per cent and GA3 @ 25 ppm, GA3 @ 50 ppm sprayed at different stages (V5, V6, V5 & V6). Among the different treatments, foliar application of ZnSO4 (1.0%) at V5 stage revealed a significant effect on physiological parameters such as photosynthetic rate, normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) and biochemical parameters viz., chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll of leaves, ultimately leading to increasing in the yield. Physiological and biochemical parameters except transpiration rate were increased when foliar nutrition was given at early stages (V5 & V6 stage). It was concluded from the results that foliar nutrition during 25 to 30 days after sowing could increase maize productivity significantly by increasing physiological and biochemical activity.