SATYAJEET, SATPAL, JITENDER KUMAR, AMARJEET NIBHORIA AND MEHAK NAGORA
CCS HAU, Regional Research Station, Bawal-123501 (Haryana), India
Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail: sjeet.hau@gmail.com)
(Received: 2 December 2024; Accepted: 26 December 2024)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was carried out at CCS HAU, Regional Research Station, Bawal during summer 2020 and 2021 laid out in split plot design with three replications, comprised of three forage crops (sudan grass, sorghum and maize) in main-plots and four nutrient combinations (RDF, RDF + Foliar spray of zinc sulphate (0.5%) + urea (2%) at 30, 45 DAS and 25 days after first cut, RDF + Foliar spray of ferrous sulphate (0.5%) + urea (2%) at 30, 45 DAS and 25 days after first cut and RDF + Foliar spray of zinc sulphate (0.5%) + ferrous sulphate (0.5%) + urea (2%)) at 30, 45 DAS and 25 days after first cut) in sub-plots. Soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture low in N, P and medium in K, with slightly alkaline in reaction (pH – 8.2). Among the fodder crops the green and dry fodder yield of maize was significantly higher over sudan grass and sorghum which was 22.1 and 22.2 % higher over sorghum and 10.4 and 10.5 % higher over sudan grass in respect of green and dry fodder, respectively. Among foliar nutrient management, RDF + Foliar spray of zinc sulphate (0.5%) + ferrous sulphate (0.5%) + urea (2%) at 30, 45 DAS and 25 days after first cut recorded significantly higher green fodder yield over rest of the treatments. Similar trend was found in case of dry matter yield, N content, crude protein content and crude protein yield. Net return in maize was higher to the tune of 31.6 and 74.1 % over sudan grass and sorghum, respectively. The B:C ratio was highest in maize (1.72) over sudan grass (1.54) and sorghum (1.42). Among foliar nutrient management higher Net return of Rs. 26273/ha was incurred in RDF + Foliar spray of zinc sulphate (0.5%) + ferrous sulphate (0.5%) + urea (2%) at 30, 45 DAS and 25 days after first cut over rest of the treatments. Similar trend was found in case of B:C ratio (1.69). Significantly higher available P, Zn and Fe content was found under RDF + Foliar spray of zinc sulphate (0.5) + ferrous sulphate (0.5%) + urea (2%) at 30, 45 DAS and 25 days after first cut over rest of the treatments, except Zn and Fe where it was at par with alone application of Zn and Fe, respectively.
Key words: Forage crops, foliar nutrition, yield, quality, and economics