Effect of Zinc Application on Growth and Yield of Summer Maize (Zea mays)

A field experiment was conducted at the Instructional-cum-Research (ICR) Farm, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during the summer season of 2019 to find out the effect of zinc on growth and yield through soil and foliar application. The experiment consisted of nine treatments viz., 0 kg/ha ZnSO4 (Control), 10 kg/ha ZnSO4 soil application, 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 soil application, 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS, 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS and 45 DAS, 10 kg/ha ZnSO4 ­soil application + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS, 10 kg/ha ZnSO4 ­soil application + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS and 45 DAS, 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 ­soil application + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS and 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 ­soil application + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS and 45 DAS. The treatments were laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) and replicated thrice. The soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture, acidic in reaction (pH 5.4), medium in organic carbon (0.64%), low in available N (198.04 kg/ha), medium in available P2O5 (24.98kg/ha), low in available K2O (187.30 kg/ha) and low in available zinc (0.56 mg/kg). Experimental findings revealed that growth attributing characters like plant height was recorded in the combined application of 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 ­soil application + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS and 45 DAS. The Leaf Area Index (LAI) and yield attributing characters like weight of the cob with and without husk, number of grain rows per cob, number of grains per row, number of grains per cob as well as grain yield (43.05 q/ha) were recorded the highest in the combined application of 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 soil application + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS and 45 DAS which was at par with the combined application of 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 soil application + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 25 DAS.