Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management and Agronomic Biofortification on Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum. L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Students’ Instructional Farm of Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology Kanpur, (U.P.) to assess the effect of organic source  with  foliar application of micronutrients on growth and yield of wheat for two consecutive years (2021-22) and (2022-23).The experiment comprises three treatment under main plot viz: F1- Control (100% RDF), F2- 100 % RDF + Vermicompost @ 2.5t/ha, and F3- 100 % RDF + FYM @ 5t/ha, and five treatments foliar spray of micronutrient in sub plot viz: M1- control (No spray), M2- Foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.25% at tillering and booting stages, M3- Foliar spray of Nano Zinc @ 0.5% spray at tillering and booting stages, M4- Foliar spray of FeSO4 @ 0.25%  at tillering and booting stages and M5- Foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.25%  + FeSO4 @ 0.25% at tillering and booting stages. Fifteen treatment combination were assigned under Split Plot Design (SPD) and replicated thrice. Wheat variety (K- 1006) was grown with the recommended agronomic practices. Results showed that maximum increase in growth parameters and yield and yield attribute of wheat viz: plant height (cm), number of tillers/m2, leaf area index and spike length (cm), number of spikelets /spike and harvest index (%) and biological yield (ton ha-) recorded significantly higher  with F2- 100 % RDF + Vermicompost @ 2.5t/ha treatments Among  the sub-plot , M5- Foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.25% + FeSO4 @ 0.25% at tillering and booting stages, produced significant maximum highest harvest index (42.77 %) and biological yield (13.88 ton /ha) as compared to all other treatments.