Effect of zinc fertilization on wheat yield under sandy loam soil

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2012-13 to 2016-17 to study effect of zinc fertilization on effect of zinc fertilization on yield attributes and yield of wheat under sandy loam soil at Dry Farming Research Staion, JAU, Jam Khambhaliya of North Saurashtra Agroclimatic Zone of Gujarat. The experiment comprising of ten different treatments of basal and foliar application of zinc laid out in Randomized Block Design with four replications. Significantly higher plant height, number of grains per spike, 1000 grain weight, grain & straw yield of wheat were obtained with soil application of ZnSO4 @ 20 kg ha-1 + foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5 % at heading & milking stages (T6). Significantly higher content of zinc in wheat grain was recorded under treatment T3 (soil application of ZnSO4 20 kg ha-1 + foliar spray at crown root initiation & heading stages). While, significantly higher zinc content in straw was recorded with application of treatment T8 (soil application of ZnSO4@20 kg ha-1 + foliar spray at milking & dough stages). The significantly higher zinc uptake (475.0 g ha-1 was recorded under treatment T6. The highest total income (Rs. 79074 ha-1) and net realization (Rs. 46578 ha-1) and B: C ratio (2.4) were obtained with soil application of ZnSO4 @ 20 kg ha-1 + foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5 % at heading & milking stages (T6).