MEENA SEWHAG*, NEERAJ PAWAR, ROHTASH KUMAR, JOGINDER KUMAR, AJAY SINGH, GURDEEP SINGH MALHI AND NEERAJ KHAROR
CCSHAU Regional Research Station, Rohtak, Haryana, India
Department of Soil Science, CCS HAU, Hisar, Haryana
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, CCS HAU, Hisar, Haryana
Department of Biochemistry, CCS HAU, Hisar, Haryana
*(e-mail: meenasewhag@gmail.com)
(Received : 25 September 2023; Accepted : 24 December 2023)
SUMMARY
Field experiments on fodder sorghum were conducted during kharif season of 2022 and 2023 at Research farm of CCS HAU Regional Research Station, Rohtak situated at Samargopalpur to evaluate the bio-fortification of fodder sorghum for enhancing zinc and iron content. The field experiment was conducted in factorial RBD design with four zinc levels viz. No ZnSO4, 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 30 DAS, 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 45 DAS and 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray at 30 and 45 DAS and four iron levels viz. No FeSO4, 0.5% FeSO4 foliar spray at 30 DAS,0.5% FeSO4 foliar spray at 45 DAS and 0.5% FeSO4 foliar spray at 30 and 45 DAS in three replications. The fodder sorghum variety HJ 513 was sown on 25 June 2022 and 23 June 2023 respectively. The soil of the experimental field was low in organic matter content and available nitrogen and medium in available phosphorus and potassium. The recommended dose of fertilizer was applied as per package of practices of CCS HAU, Hisar. The half dose of nitrogen and full dose of phosphorus was applied at the time of sowing as basal dose and remaining half dose of nitrogen was top dressed at crop knee high stage. Both zinc and iron were applied as foliar sprayed as per the treatments. The crop was harvested at 50 % flowering stage because it’s a stage where the plant has accumulated a significant amount of biomass and nutrients, making it optimal for fodder production. Results revealed that foliar sprays of zinc and iron have several positive effects on growth and yield of fodder sorghum crops. The mean increases with application of two foliar sprays of 0.5 % ZnSO4 with 2.5 % urea at 30 and 45 DAS were to the tune of 20.4 % in green fodder yield over control. Whereas, 14.4 % and 11.7 % higher green fodder yield of sorghum was recorded with foliar spray of 0.5% ZnSO4 at 30 DAS and 0.5% ZnSO4 at 45 DAS, respectively. Similarly, foliar spray of 0.5 % FeSO4 at 30 and 45 DAS resulted in 19.8 %, 14.4 % and 13.4 % higher green fodder yield of sorghum over control, foliar spray of 0.5% FeSO4 at 30 DAS and foliar spray of 0.5% FeSO4 at 45 DAS, respectively. Two foliar sprays of 0.5% FeSO4 (30 and 45 DAS) resulted in highest B: C (1.92) followed by one foliar spray of 0.5% FeSO4 at 45 DAS (1.72) and one foliar spray of 0.5% FeSO4 at 30 DAS (1.74). Maximum crude protein (11.97 and 11.70 %) was recorded when two foliar spray of 0.5% ZnSO4 and FeSO4 were done (30 and 45 DAS) that was statistically similar with one spray of 0.5% ZnSO4 and FeSO4 at 30 and 45 DAS both and minimum crude protein (9.93 and 10.11 %) was obtained in control treatment.
Key words: Bio-fortification, crude protein, forage, iron, sorghum and zinc