Effect of zinc and magnesium on growth and yield of maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during Zaid (summer) season of 2023 at Crop Research Farm Department of Agronomy. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with 10 treatments and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of soil application of zinc at 20 kg/ha, foliar application at 0.5% and their combination at 0.5% and 10 kg/ha and 3 levels of (Magnesium at 5, 15, 25 kg/ha) along with recommended doses of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash and a control (120-60-40 kg N-P-K/ha). Foliar application of 0.5% Zinc with the combination of soil application of 10 kg/ha Zinc and 25kg/ha Magnesium (treatment 9) recorded higher plant dry weight (95.16 g), yield attributes more No. of cobs per plant (1.93), Grains per cob (249.33), Test Weight (268.1 g), Grain yield (6.58 t/ha) and benefit cost ratio of (2.68).