Effect of Zinc Nutrition on Productivity, Quality and Biofortification in Potato (Solanum tuberosum)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted during winter (rabi) seasons of   2022–23 at Vegetable Research Farm, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya, (UP), India to assess effect of zinc nutrition on growth and yield of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) through soil and foliar zinc sulphate application. The experiment consisted of 7 treatment combination of soil and foliar applications ; T1 (Control i.e No Zinc, Only RDF), T2 (RDF + 2.5 Kg Zn/ha from zinc sulphate at the time of planting) , T3 (RDF+5.0 Kg Zn/ha from zinc sulphate at the time of planting) , T4 ( RDF + Foliar application of Zinc Sulphate at the rate of 0.2% at 25 days after planting) , T5 (RDF + Foliar application of Zinc Sulphate at the rate of 0.2% at 25 and 50 days after planting) , T6 (RDF + T2+ Foliar application of Zinc Sulphate at the rate of 0.2% at 25 days after planting) , T7 (RDF + T2+ Foliar application of Zinc Sulphate at the rate of 0.2% at 25 and 50 days after planting )  in a randomized block design with 3 replications. The results revealed that the application of ZnSO4 at the rate of2.5 kg/ha at the time of planting and foliar application of zinc sulphate at the rate of 0.2% at 25 and 50 DAP (T7) gave significantly higher total tuber yield of 26.89 kg ha-1, and number of tubers per plot of 368.98.  The benefit-cost analysis of tuber production under different basal soil application levels and foliar application revealed highest benefit-cost ratio of 1.671 with treatment T7 followed by T6 (1.629) and T3 (1.57). The experiment highlights the importance of soil and foliar zinc sulphate application for improved tuber yield and zinc fortification in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.