Effect of zeolite on chlorophyll content, growth attributing characters and yield of kharif upland paddy grown on Inceptisol

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in kharif-2019 at Agronomy Farm, Rajarshee Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj College of Agriculture, Kolhapur. An experiments was laid out in randomized block design with three replications and seven treatments comprising five levels of zeolite (60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 kg ha-1). Application of zeolite significantly increases chlorophyll content of paddy leaves. The highest chlorophyll content (0.84 mg kg-1 and 0.96 mg kg-1) values were recorded with application of zeolite @ 140 kg ha-1 (T7) at maximum tillering and panicle initiation stage of paddy crop and it was significantly superior over rest of the treatments except T5 (GRDF + Zeolite @ 100 kg ha-1) and T6 (GRDF + Zeolite @ 120 kg ha-1). The significantly highest values of growth parameters and yield attributing characters viz. plant height (95.67 cm), number of tillers plant-1 (24.33), number of panicles (23.33) and 1000 grain weight (26.11 g) were recorded with application of zeolite @ 140 kg ha-1 (T7) but it was at par with the treatment T5 (GRDF + Zeolite @ 100 kg ha-1) and T6 (GRDF + Zeolite @ 120 kg ha-1). There was no significant effect of application of zeolite on number of grains panicle-1. The grain and stover yields of paddy increased significantly due to zeolite application. The application of zeolite @ 140 kg ha-1 (T7) showed significantly the highest grain yield (42.94 q ha-1) and stover yield (59.20 q ha-1) but it was at par with treatment T5 (GRDF + Zeolite @ 100 kg ha-1) and T6 (GRDF + Zeolite @ 120 kg ha-1) indicating response of zeolite application upto 100 kg ha-1 (T5). The results of the present investigation indicated that the application of zeolite @ 100 kg ha-1 along with GRDF was found effective in increasing chlorophyll content, growth attributing characters and yield.