Vol. 17 No. 3
Yield and nutrient fortification of chickpea by foliar Fe and Zn application
Author(s): K.C. GUPTA, R. SAXENA, S.K. JAIN, V. KUMAR AND M.R. YADAV
Abstract: Iron and zinc deficiency among human being is increasing day by day as about one half of the global population is suffering from the micronutrient deficiency. Agronomic biofortification through application of Fe and Zn of pulses receives great attention in recent years to deal with hidden hunger in human population. Research experiments were planned and executed during rabi seasons of 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 to assess the impact of various methods of application of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) on growth, productivity and agronomic biofortification of chickpea. Results of the study revealed that among two chickpea varieties, RSG 931 performed slightly better but failed to record any significant variation in plant height and yield during all the years of experimentation except grain yield during 2015-16. However, significantly higher pods per plant (48.31) was recorded under RSG 931 which was higher by 13.03 percent compared to RSG 807. However, significantly higher pooled seed index (24.85 g) was recorded under variety RSG 807 which was higher by 35.57 per cent compared to variety RSG 931. Nutrition application of 0.5 % ZnSo4 + 0.5 % FeSo4 proved superior as it recorded higher values of pods per plant (52.90) and seed index (22.29 g). The mean increases in seed yield and straw yield due to nutrition application of 0.5 % ZnSo4 + 0.5 % FeSo4 were 22.3 and 17.1 % over control. The maximum net returns (₹ 73355 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.47) were recorded under RSG-931 and net returns (₹ 78914 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.40) were recorded under nutrition application of 0.5 % ZnSo4 + 0.5 % FeSo4. The least net returns (₹ 62286 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.09) were recorded under recommended dose of N and P due to insufficient nutrition application in chickpea.
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