Vol. 11, Issue 11 (2022)

A field experiment was conducted to know the efficacy of zinc and silicon on growth and yield of rice under low hills of Uttarakhand was carried out during kharif season 2020-21 at Experimental Research Block, School of Agricultural Sciences, SGRR University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. The nine treatment combinations viz. T₁= Control, T_2-=RDF @120:80:40, T₃=RDF @120:80:40 + Two Zinc spray@ 0.5%, T₄= RDF @120:80:40 + Two Si spray @ 0.2%, T₅=RDF @120:80:40 + Two Si spray @ 0.3%, T₆= NPK @150:80:40, T₇= NPK @150:80:40 + Two Zinc spray @ 0.5%, T₈= NPK @150:80:40 + Two Si spray @ 0.2%, T₉= NPK @150:80:40 + Two Si spray @ 0.3% were tested under randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that the application of zinc and silicon significantly influenced the growth and yield parameters of rice. Plant height, Leaf area index (LAI), dry weight, number of tillers, panicle length, number of grains per panicle and 1000-grain weight were recorded maximum with the application of 120:80:40 kg ha^-1 NPK + @ 0.5% Zn spray at 30 and 45 DAT. Grain yield and harvest index also influenced significantly with the application of zinc and silicon and maximum grain yield was recorded with the application of 150:80:40 NPK + two Zn spray 0.5% (65.88 q ha^-1) followed by treatment 150:80:40 NPK + Two Si spray @ 0.3% (63.46 q ha^-1) and lowest in T1 control (30.12 q ha^-1). Harvest index was recorded non-significant.