Abstract

                                Twenty three rice varieties and pre-release cultures selected for the experiment from main rice growing tracts of Tamil Nadu were screened for their susceptibility or resistancy to zinc deficiency by sand culture technique. The characters such as germi nation percentage, dry weight of seedlings and vigour index which is a product of gor- mination percentage and dry weight ot seedlings were determined. The varieties were categorised into four groups namely resistant, less susceptible, moderately suscep- tible and highly susceptible based on their performance in vigour index over the Control and the concentrations of nutrient applied. The tissue zinc content of seed and seed- lings was also determined to find out the relationship.

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