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ABDUL SHAKOOR KARRIMI, A. PRATAP KUMAR REDDY, Y. REDDIRAMU AND V.UMAMAHESH
Department of Agronomy, S.V Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati – 517502, Chittoor (Dist.,),Andhra Pradesh
A field experiment was conducted during kharif, 2017 to study the fortification effect of zinc and iron on growth yield of sweet corn (Zea mays L.).The Growth parameters of sweet corn viz., plant height, leaf area index and dry matter production were influenced favourably with foliar application of 0.5 % ZnSO4 + 0.2 % FeSO4 at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50 kg ha-1). The yield and yield components viz., cob length, cob girth were significantly superior with 0.5 % foliar application of ZnSO4 + 0.2 % FeSO4 at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) (T10) compared to rest of the treatments. Lower growth and yield were observed with recommended dose of fertilizer alone.
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal crop next to rice and wheat in the world’s agricultural economy, both as a food for human and as feed for livestock. It is known as ‘‘queen of cereals’’ because of its maximum yield potential (22 t ha-1) among the cereals and expanded use in different agro-industries. It is recognized as a leading commercial crop of great economic value. It is grown worldwide over an area of 185 million hectares with a production of 1018 million tonnes and productivity of 5.49 tonnes ha-1. In India, it is grown over an area of 9.5 million hectares with a production of 23.3 million tonnes with 2452 kg ha-1of productivity (DACNET, 2014).
A field experiment entitled Fortification effect of zinc and iron on yield and quality of sweet corn Zea mays L.)was carried out during kharif, 2017 on sandy loam soils of wetland farm of S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati cam-pus of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University.
The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with ten treatments and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of RDF alone (180-60-50 kg N, P2O5 and K2O ha-1) (T1), RDF + soil application of ZnSO4 @ 50 kg ha-1 (Basal) (T2), RDF + soil application of FeSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 (Basal) (T3), RDF+ soil application of ZnSO4 @ 50 kg ha-1 + FeSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1) (Basal) (T4), RDF + 0.5% foliar application of ZnSO4 at booting (T5), RDF + 0.5% foliar application of ZnSO4 at booting and silking (T6), RDF + 0.2% foliar application of FeSO4 at booting (T7), RDF + 0.2 % foliar application of FeSO4 at booting and silking (T8), RDF + 0.5% foliar application of ZnSO4 + 0.2% FeSO4 at booting (T9), RDF + 0.5% foliar application of ZnSO4+ 0.2% FeSO4 at booting and silking (T10). The sweet corn (sugar – 75) was tested in the present experiment.
At harvest maximum leaf area index was recorded with 0.5 % foliar application of ZnSO4 + 0.2 % FeSO4 at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) (T10). Higher leaf area index recorded with foliar application of zinc and iron at booting and silking along with RDF was due to better absorption and translocation of foliar applied nutrients leading to delayed senescence and abscission. Increase in leaf area index by Zn application might be due to increase in tryptophan amino acid and indole acetic acid hormone which are responsible for leaf area expansion (Seifi Nadergholi et al., 2011). Safyan et al. (2012) reported increase in leaf area index (LAI) with foliar application of Zn in maize.
Dry matter production
Higher dry matter production associated with 0.5 % foliar application of ZnSO4 + 0.2 % FeSO4 at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) might be due to the significant role of zinc, iron and NPK in better root and shoot development and which inturn increased dry matter production. The improvement in dry matter production with application of zinc was due to the fact that zinc is an essential component of several enzymes and plays an important role in nitrogen metabolism there by higher uptake of nitrogen in plants, resulting in increased amino acids and protein synthesis in plant cell owing to better growth and development.
YIELD COMPONENTS
COB LENGTH AND GIRTH (CM)
Increase in cob length and cob diameter with combined application of Zn as soil application and foliar spray might have been the result of increase in the availability of Zn due to direct absorption of the Zn by the foliar spray. Increase in cob girth with foliar spray might have been the result of increase in availability of zinc caused by the direct absorption of the zinc by the foliar spray (Mohsin et al., 2014).
Yield 146
The highest green cob yield of sweet corn (15211 kg ha-1) was recorded with foliar application of 0.5 % of ZnSO4 + 0.2 % FeSO4 at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) (T10).Foliar application of 0.5 % of ZnSO4 + 0.2 % FeSO4 at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) (T10), resulted in the highest green cob yield of sweet corn and was significantly superior over the rest treatments tried. It is obvious that the increase in green cob yield is ascribed to the reason that application of zinc and iron along with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium resulted in vigorous root development, which promoted growth and development of plant leading to higher photosynthetic activity, which in turn resulted in better development of yield attributes and finally higher seed yield (Paramasivam et al., 2011). These results are corroborated with the findings of Ramachandrappa et al. (2007) and Duraisami et al. (2007).
