Abstract

                                A field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of zinc fortification on growth attributes, yield attributes and soil-available nutrients of babycorn. The treatments comprised of T1: control, T2: ZnSO4 at 25 kg ha-1 as soil application, T3: ZnSO4 at 37.5 kg ha-1 as soil application, T4: Foliar spray at 0.5% on 20 and 40 DAS, T5: Foliar spray at 1.0% on 20 and 40 DAS, T6: T2+T4, T7: T2+ T5, T8: T3+ T4, T9: T3+ T5. Growth parameters viz., plant population, leaf area index, days to first tasseling, days to first cob initiation and days to first harvest were significantly influenced by combined application of ZnSO4 to soil @ 37.5 kg ha-1 with foliar spray @ 1.0% on 20 DAS and 40 DAS. Dry matter production of babycorn was significantly higher in soil application of ZnSO4 @ 37.5 kg ha-1 with foliar spray at 0.5% on 20 and 40 DAS.Increased yield attributes such as number of cobs/plant, cob and corn length, cob and corn weight, cob and corn girth were observed higher with combined application of ZnSO4 @ 37.5 kg ha-1 to soil with foliar spray @ 0.5% at 20 and 40 DAS. Soil available nutrient status of NPK was not significantly influenced by Zn fertilization. However, higher availability of zinc nutrient after harvest of the crop was obtained with application of ZnSO4 @ 37.5 kg ha-1 in soil with foliar spray of 0.5% at 20 and 40 DAS.

Key words : Zinc fortification; Babycorn; Days to first harvest; Cob weight; Available Zinc