MANEESHA, MAGAN SINGH, SUPRIYA, PRAVEEN B. R., CHETHAN BABU R. T., SANJEEV KUMAR AND GUNASHEKHAR H.
ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001 (Haryana), India
Tea Research Association, North Bengal Regional R & D Centre, Nagrakata, Jalpaiguri-735225 (West Bengal), India
ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Southern Research Station, Bengaluru-560030 (Karnataka), India
*(e-mail: magansinghndri@gmail.com)
(Received : 8 June 2024; Accepted : 25 June 2024)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted during rabi 2020 at Research Farm, Agronomy Section, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Block Design containing seven treatments which were T1: Absolute control, T2: 100% RDF, T3: 100% RDF + Zn (basal), T4: 100% RDF + Fe (basal), T5: 100% RDF + 0.5% foliar spray of Zn, T6: 100% RDF + 0.5% foliar spray of Fe, T7: 75% RDF + 0.5% foliar spray of Zn + 0.5% foliar spray of Fe and these were replicated thrice. Results of the experiment showed that significantly higher value of growth parameters viz. plant height, no. of leaves, leaf length, leaf width, no. of regenerated stems etc. at all three cuts were recorded in treatment T3 which was statistically at par with treatment T4. Higher total green fodder as well as dry fodder yield (69.82 and 9.59 t/ha, respectively) was also recorded in treatment T3 among different treatments in all three cuts while minimum total green as well as dry fodder yield found in treatment T1 (49.59 and 6.16 t/ha respectively). In nutshell, application of 100% RDF along with Zn as basal could produce better fodder in terms of growth and yield.
Key words: Fodder, legume, livestock, nodule, RDF