AJAY SINGH, GURDEEP SINGH MALHI, SATPAL, MEENA SEWHAG, ROHTASH AND JOGINDER
Regional Research Station of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Rohtak (Haryana), India
Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
Central University of Haryana, Jant Pali, (Haryana), India
*(email: ajayyadavhau@gmail.com)
(Received: 10 May 2026; Accepted: 20 June 2026)
SUMMARY
Soil salinity and poor quality ground water are fast emerging major problems in India. The saline soils are generally inherently poor in nutrient content and applied nutrients are fixed in soil. It reduces their availability. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted during spring 2023 and 2024 to evaluate the effect of foliar application of nutrients on growth and yield of maize under saline ecosystem. Foliar application of 0.5% ZnSO4 and 3% NPK (19:19:19) at 45 days after sowing produced significantly taller plants, highest biomass per plant, dry weight per plant and green fodder yield as compared to control. The green fodder yield under this treatment (476 q/ha) was ~12% higher than control. This treatment also recorded maximum gross return (86910 Rs/ha), net return (23857 Rs/ha) and B:C (1.38).
Key words: Fodder maize, zinc sulphate, NPK, foliar spray, fodder yield and economics