Foliar supplementation of phosphorus and zinc enhanced the yield of Boro rice

Supplying phosphorus and zinc through foliar supplementation can be beneficial for crops experiencing higher demand compared to supply from soil. Phosphorus and zinc, an important micronutrient significantly influence various yield components of Boro rice production. A research investigation was conducted to evaluate the impact of foliar application of phosphorus and zinc on the Boro rice yield. The research included two varieties cv. BRRI dhan28 and BRRI dhan89 and five treatments of phosphorus and zinc fertilizer management viz. F1 (Recommended dose of fertilizers, RDF), F2 (RDF + foliar supplementation of 1% P at panicle initiation stage), F3 (RDF + foliar supplementation of 0.5% ZnSO4.7H2O at panicle initiation stage), F4 (RDF + foliar supplementation of both 1% P and 0.5% ZnSO4.7H2O at panicle initiation stage) and F5 (75% RDF + foliar supplementation of both 1% P and 0.5% ZnSO4.7H2O at panicle initiation stage). The study was conducted employing a randomized complete block design and it was replicated thrice. The application of phosphorus and zinc fertilizer through foliar supplementation significantly impacted the yield components of Boro rice. The highest plant height (96.60 cm), total tillers hill-1 (11.80), effective tillers hill-1 (11.50), panicle length (24.10 cm), grains panicle-1 (129.43), 1000-grain weight (25.12 g), grain yields (8.01 t ha-1), straw yields (8.04 t ha-1), biological yield (16.05) and harvest index (49.90 %) were resulted with BRRI dhan89 when applied with RDF + foliar application of both 1% P and 0.5% ZnSO4.7H2O at panicle initiation stage. Based on the findings, it can be inferred that BRRI dhan89 resulted in superior performance compared to BRRI dhan28 and RDF with a foliar application of both 1% P and 0.5% ZnSO4.7H2O at the panicle initiation stage performed best for BRRI dhan89.