MEENA SEWHAG*, UMA DEVI, NEELAM, SHWETA, VIRENDER HOODA, NEERAJ KHAROR AND MEHAK NAGORA
Department of Agronomy, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
Department of Biochemistry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : meenasewhag@gmail.com)
(Received : 2 February 2022; Accepted : 21 March 2022)
SUMMARY
Zinc and iron both are extensively used to improve the productivity and quality of fodder maize, which ultimately helps in alleviate their deficiency in animals. To find out zinc and iron requirement of fodder maize a field experiment was conducted during spring season of 2020 at Agronomy Research Area of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. The soil of the experimental field was sandy loam in texture, neutral in reaction, low in organic carbon and available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus and high in available potassium. The experiment was laid out in FRBD design with four zinc levels [No ZnSO4, 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 (basal dose), 25 kg/ha ZnSO4 (basal dose) and 25 kg/ha ZnSO4 (basal dose) + 1% foliar spray at 45 DAS] and four iron sprays at 30 DAS [No FeSO4, 0.5% foliar spray of FeSO4, 1% foliar spray of FeSO4 and 1.5% foliar spray of FeSO4] and replicated thrice. Results shows that growth parameters and yield of fodder maize in spring season were significantly influenced due to zinc and iron management effects. Growth parameters like no of leaves/plant, leaf length, leaf breadth, plant height and LAI and yield of spring planted fodder maize were recorded highest with application of 25 kg/ha ZnSO4 (basal dose) + 1% foliar spray of ZnSO4 at 45 DAS. Similarly foliar spray of 1 % FeSO4 at 30 DAS recorded better growth parameters and significantly higher yield of fodder maize. Application of 1 % foliar spray of FeSO4 at 30 DAS recorded significantly higher green and dry fodder yield. However the difference in dry fodder yield with application of 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% foliar spray of FeSO4 at 30 DAS was not significant. The crude protein content was recorded highest with foliar spray of 1.5% FeSO4 at 30 DAS. Application of 25 kg/ha ZnSO4 (basal dose) + 1% foliar spray of ZnSO4 at 45 DAS in spring planted fodder maize resulted in 36.43 % higher green fodder yield and 36.35 % higher dry matter yield over control. Similarly application of 1% foliar spray of FeSO4 at 30 DAS resulted in 12.68% higher green fodder yield and 12.70 % higher dry matter yield over control.
Key words: Fodder maize, LAI, crude protein content, Zinc and iron effect