Abstract

                                The present study aimed to study the effect of foliar nutrition of water-solublefertilizers for enhancing yield and quality of rice during Kharif-2019 in clayloam soils of wetland farms, TNAU, Coimbatore. The experiment consisted ofeleven treatments that include- 100% RDF combined with foliar feeding ofcommercially available 19:19:19 @ 1% and 2%, TNAU WSF 19:19:19 @ 1%and 2%, TNAU Liquid Multi Micronutrient @ 1% either alone or in combinationdepending upon the treatments and absolute control. The experimentwas laid out in a randomized block design (RBD) with eleven treatmentsreplicated thrice using CO-51 rice as a test crop. The results revealed thatfoliar feeding of rice crop with different water-soluble fertilizers had a markedpromotional effect on growth and yield of rice. Among the water-solublefertilizers evaluated, foliar spray of TNAU water-soluble fertilizers 19:19:19@ 2% + TNAU Liquid Multi Micronutrient @ 1% (T10) concentration at activetillering, panicle initiation, 50% flowering and harvest stage along with arecommended dose of fertilizers recorded the maximum growth (plant height(45.8, 81.2, 93.5 and 105.6 cm), chlorophyll as SPAD value (45.7, 46.8,48.6 and 44.5) and LAI (3.01, 8.10, 6.72 and 3.92)) and yield attributes(number of panicles m-2 (352), number of grains panicle-1 (198) and numberof filled grains panicle-1 (180) and the maximum grain and straw yield of6233 kg ha-1 and 7730 kg ha-1 respectively. The promotional effect wasto the tune of 113.5 percent in grain and 79.8 percent in straw yield overcontrol. Concerning normal practice, it was a 19.7 percent increase in grainyield, and a 5.2 percent increase in straw yield was observed.

Key words : Water soluble fertilizers; foliar fertilization; growth; yield; rice