SUSTAINING PRODUCTIVITY of high yielding hybrids of pearlMILLET THROUGH ZINC
ANIL KUMAR*, H. P. YADAV AND DEV VART
Bajra Section, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding
CCS Haryana Agricultural University,
Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : anilbajra2009@gmail.com)
(Received : 12 December, 2012, Accepted : 22 January, 2013)
Summary
A field experiment was conducted with nine treatment combinations [three advance hybrids; HHB 94, HHB 197 and HHB 223 and three levels of ZnSO4 i. e. control (T1), application of 10 kg ZnSO4 as basal + 0.5 per cent as foliar spray 30 days after sowing of the crop (T2) and application of 20 kg ZnSO4/ha as basal (T3)] in factorial randomized block design with three replications during kharif seasons of 2010 and 2011 in the Bajra Section, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. The hybrids showed variable response to zinc treatments. The hybrid HHB 94 took 6 to 8 more days for 50 per cent flowering than HHB 223 and HHB 197. The increase in the green fodder yield was to the tune of 11.1 and 18.8 per cent in HHB 94, 9.6 and 17.9 per cent in HHB 197 and 10.2 and 17.6 per cent in HHB 223, respectively, with the T2 and T3 treatments, respectively, over the control. On mean basis, HHB 223 showed 23.4, 18.8, 18.1 and 13.2 per cent more earhead, grain, green fodder and dry fodder yields, respectively, than HHB 94 and 5.3, 7.0, 7.1 and 4.5 per cent, respectively, as compared to HHB 197. The grain yield was increased by 10.6 and 9.0 per cent, whereas dry fodder yield to the tune of 15.5 and 10.7 per cent by T3 and T2 treatments, respectively, than the control (T1). The results also indicated that basal application of ZnSO4 was slightly better than combination of basal and foliar application.
Key words : Productivity, high yield, zinc, pearlmillet hybrids