Response of Nutrient Enriched Compost and Zinc on Quality, Nutrient Uptake and Profitability of Maize (Zea mays L.) in South-West Rajasthan, India

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2020 at the Instructional Farm (Agronomy), Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur, to study the effects of nutrient-enriched compost (NEC) and zinc application on the quality, nutrient uptake and profitability of maize (Zea mays L.) cultivar PM-9 in the sub-humid Southern Plain and Aravalli Hill region of Rajasthan. The treatments comprised four levels of NEC, namely control (NEC0), 2.0 t NEC ha-1 (NEC1), 4.0 t NEC ha-1 (NEC2) and 6.0 t NEC ha-1 (NEC3), and four zinc (Zn) application treatments, namely control (Zn0), 10 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 as basal + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray (Zn1), 15 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 as basal + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray (Zn2) and 20 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 as basal + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray (Zn3), arranged in a factorial randomised block design with three replications. Increasing levels of nutrient-enriched compost and zinc up to 4 t ha-1 and 15 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 + 0.5% ZnSO4 foliar spray significantly (P=0.05) increased protein content, nutrient content and uptake (N, P, K and Zn) by seed and stover, net return and the BC ratio of maize. The application of NEC2 increased zinc content in seed and stover by 14.90 and 13.50 per cent, respectively, compared with the control (NEC0), while Zn2 increased zinc content in seed and stover by 13.98 and 13.42 per cent, respectively, compared with the control (Zn0). Based on the statistical inference, nutrient-enriched compost @ 4 t ha-1, along with basal application of 15 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 plus foliar application of 0.5% ZnSO4, emerged as the optimum treatment for improving maize quality, nutrient uptake by seed and stover, and profitability in the sub-humid Southern Plain region of Rajasthan.