Vol. 11, Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
CH Ramakrishna, A Madhavi Lata, B Murali, A Madhavi and M Venkateswarlu

Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted during rabi, 2019-20 and 2020-21 in red loamy soils of Hyderabad to find out the response of fodder maize to different soil and foliar applications of zinc. The five treatments consisted of RDF (120 kg N - 50 kg P₂O₅ - 40 kg K₂O ha-1) without zinc and different combinations of soil and foliar applications of zinc were studied in a randomized block design with four replications. The results of the experiment revealed that (two years pooled mean) among all the treatments, the maximum plant height (297.0 cm), leaf to stem ratio (0.22), dry matter production (103.7 q ha-1) and green fodder yield (419 q ha-1) were recorded with RDF along with foliar application of 1% ZnSO₄ at 30 45 and 60 DAS (T₅). All the growth parameters and yield were superior over other treatments the lowest was recorded with no Zn + RDF (T₁). The highest B: C ratio (2.9) Net returns and gross returns was realized with application of Recommended dose of fertiliser along with Foliar spray of 1% ZnSO₄ at 20, 45 and 60 days (T₅). Lowest was recorded with no Zn application T₁. Hence, it can be concluded that foliar application of zinc at three different stages had significant influence on the growth parameters and green fodder yield of fodder maize.