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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, 517 502, Chittoor Dt., Andhra Pradesh, India.
A field experiment was conducted during kharif, 2017 to study the agronomic fortification of zinc and iron as influenced by yield and quality of sweet corn (Zea mays L.). The yield of sweet corn was higher with 0.5 per cent foliar application of ZnSO +0.2 per cent FeSO at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P O and K O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) compared to rest of the treatments. Maximum grain protein content was recorded with the application of recommended dose of fertilizer (N, P O and K O 180:60:50 kg ha-1). The higher zinc and iron content (83.1mg kg, 99.77 mg kg) in the seed was recorded with foliar application 0.5 per cent of ZnSO + 0.2 per cent FeSO at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P O and K O 180:60:50 kg ha).
Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) assume tremendous market potential not only in India but also in the interna- tional market. Hungary is the leading sweet corn produc- ing country in the European Union, having an area of
31,000 ha, constituting 40 per cent of the production area of field vegetable crops. Sweet corn is gaining importance in the star/big hotels, big shopping malls and departmental stores etc. It is used for preparation of special soups, sweets, jams, cream pastes and other delicious eatables in urban areas. So now a day’s sweet corn industry is expanding because of increasing domestic consumption, export development and import replacement. Since, three to four crops can be harvested in a year and green fodder is highly succulent, palatable and digestible for dairy ani- mals. Hence it is becoming increasingly popular in India and other Asian countries. Large population of human beings in developing countries is mainly reliant on a staple diet of cereals such as rice, wheat and maize. Unfortu- nately all of our major cereal food crops lack of certain essential vitamins and minerals, as milled cereal grains
deficiency and 58 per cent of pregnant women in developing countries are anemic from iron deficiency. So, agronomic fortification is a holistic approach to eliminate micronutrient deficiency in food crops through agronomic practices by means of soil and foliar application. Hence the present investigation was undertaken to study the agronomic fortification with zinc and iron nutrition in sweet corn.
A field experiment entitled Productivity and quality of Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) as Influenced by Agronomic Fortification with Zinc and Iron was carried out during kharif, 2017 on sandy loam soils of wetland farm of S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati.
The experiment was laid out in a randomized block
design with ten treatments and replicated thrice. The treat- ments consisted of RDF alone (180-60-50 kg N, P O
are poor sources of lysine, vitamin A, folic acid, iron, zinc -1 2 5
and selenium which are essential for normal growth and
and K2O ha ) (T1), RDF + soil application of ZnSO4 @
50 kg ha-1 (Basal) (T ), RDF + soil application of FeSO
metabolism of human beings. In Asia about 35 per cent of -1 2 4
4
4
children between age group of 0 and 5 years suffer from
@ 25 kg ha (Basal) (T3), RDF + soil application of ZnSO4
Zn or Fe-deficiencies, 250 million suffer from vitamin A
@ 50 kg ha-1 + FeSO @ 25 kg ha-1) (Basal) (T ), RDF +
*Corresponding author, E-mail: karrimi786@gmail.com 72
0.5 per cent foliar application of ZnSO4 at booting (T5), RDF + 0.5 per cent foliar application of ZnSO4 at booting
Abdul Shakoor Karrimi et al.,
and silking (T6), RDF + 0.2 per cent foliar application of FeSO4 at booting (T7), RDF + 0.2 per cent foliar application of FeSO4 at booting and silking (T8), RDF +
0.5 per cent foliar application of ZnSO4 + 0.2 per cent
FeSO4 at booting (T9), RDF + 0.5 per cent foliar application
ZINC CONTENT IN KERNEL
The highest zinc content (83.1mg kg-1) in the seed was registered with foliar application 0.5 per cent of ZnSO4
+ 0.2 per cent FeSO4 at booting and silking along with
of ZnSO + 0.2 per cent FeSO at booting and silking (T ). RDF (N, P O and K O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) (T ), which
4 4 10 2 5 2 10
The sweet corn (Sugar – 75) was tested in the present experiment.
The highest green cob yield of sweet corn
was significantly superior over rest of the micronutrient management tried. This might be due to the fact that foliar applied zinc ions possess high mobility within the plants leading to increased concentration of zinc in the seed. Foliar application of ZnSO4 leads to increase in
concentration of zinc in both seed and vegetative parts of
the plants, which was mainly due to the vital physiological role of zinc in the plant cell (Alloway, 2004). Zinc content recorded with soil application of ZnSO @ 50 kg ha-1 +
(15211 kg ha-1) was recorded with foliar application of -1 4
0.5 per cent of ZnSO + 0.2 per cent FeSO
at booting
FeSO4 @ 25 kg ha
+ RDF(T4), followed by 0.5 per cent
4 4 foliar application of ZnSO4 + 0.2 per cent FeSO4 at booting
and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50
+ RDF and 0.5 per cent foliar application of ZnSO at
kg ha-1) (T ) and was significantly superior over the 4
10
rest treatments tried. Foliar application of 0.5 per cent
of ZnSO4 + 0.2 per cent FeSO4 at booting and silking
booting and silking + RDF(T9 and T6),were statistically comparable with each other and were the next best
treatments.
along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K O 180:60:50 kg ha )
(T10), resulted in the highest green cob yield of sweet corn. 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 promotes growth and development of plant leading to higher
IRON CONTENT IN KERNEL
The maximum iron content (99.77mg kg-1) of seed was registered with foliar application 0.5 per cent of ZnSO4+ 0.2 per cent FeSO4 at booting and silking along
with RDF (N, P O and K O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) might be
photosynthetic activity, which inturn results in better development of yield attributes and finally higher seed yield (Paramasivan et al., 2011). These results are corroborated with the findings of Ramachandrappa et al. (2007) and Duraisami et al. (2007).
QUALITY PARAMETERS
Application of recommended dose of fertilizer (N,
2 5 2
due to better absorption of foliar applied iron in the leaves
and it is translocated to the source and largely stored as ferric phosphoproteins called phytoproteins (Prasad, 2006).
CONCLUSION:
The present study revealed that productivity and quality of sweet corn was increased with foliar application of 0.5 per cent ZnSO4 + 0.2 per cent FeSO4 at booting and silking along with RDF (N, P2O5 and K2O 180:60:50 kg ha-1).
P O and K O 180:60:50 kg ha-1) (T ), recorded signifi-
2 5 2 1
cantly higher protein content (12.8%), which was signifi- cantly superior over rest of the treatments. However, Ortiz- Monasterio et al. (2007) reported Zn application significantly reduced grain protein contents. Reduction in grain protein contents with Zn application was possibly due to the dilution effect caused by marked increases in grain yield. Duvick and Ed-meades (1997) reported lin- ear decrease in grain protein per cent as grain yield in- creased.
Productivity and quality of sweet corn (Zea mays L.) as influenced by agronomic fortification with Zinc and Iron
Table 1. Effect of fortification with zinc and iron as influenced by yield and quality of sweet corn.
Abdul Shakoor Karrimi et al.,
Alloway, B. J. 2004. Zinc in soils and crop nutrition. International Zinc Association , Brussels, Belgium. 2: 101-107.
Duraisami, V.P., Chitdeshwari, T., Subramanian, K.S and Rajeswari, R. 2007.Effect of micronutrients and sulphur on yield and nutrient uptake by Maize in an alfisol.Madras Agricultural Journal.94 (7- 12): 283-288.
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Ortiz-Monasterio, J. I., N. Palacios-Rojas, E. Meng, K. Pixley, R. Trethowan and R. J. Pena. 2007. Enhancing the mineral and vitamin content of wheat and maize through plant breeding. Journal of Cereal Science. 46(3): 293-307.
Paramasivan, M., Kumaresan, K.R., Malarvizhi, S and Velayudham, K. 2011.Effect of different levels of NPK and Zn on yield and nutrient uptake by hybrid maize (COHM 5) in pilamedu and palaviduthi series of Tamil Nadu. Madras Agricultural Journal. 98 (10 – 12): 334-338.
Prasad, R. 2006. Zn in soils and in plant, human and animal nutrition. Indian Journal of Fertilizers. 2 (9): 103-119.
Ramachandrappa, B.K., Nanjappa, H.V and Soumya T.M. 2007. Sensory parameters, nutrient content, yield and yield attributes of baby corn varieties as influenced by stages of harvest. Mysore Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 41 (1): 1-7.