Response of Zinc in Kharif Rice cv MTU-1010

A filed experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2016 and 2017 at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Farm, Ashokenagar, West Bengal on a sandy loam soil to assess the effect of zinc on growth, yield attributing characters and yield of rice, cv MTU- 1010. The experiment was carried out in a Randomized Block Design with three treatments i.e. recommended NPK dose (60:30:30 kg/ha NPK), recommended NPK + 25 kg/ha of ZnSO4 as soil application, and recommended NPK + 20 kg/ha of ZnSO4 as soil application + 2.5 kg/ha as foliar application at 30 and 45 DAT with seven replications. The study revealed that most of the yield and yield attributing characters except a few were significantly influenced by the soil and foliar application of zinc. Application of zinc recorded 17.73% higher grain yield than soil application of sole NPK fertilizers. The maximum no. of effective tillers/hill (23.57), plant height (81.28 cm), no. of spikelet per panicle (89.57), yield (5.91 t/ha), starch content (75.28 %) and B:C ratio (1.87) were recorded in 20 kg/ha of ZnSO4 as soil application followed by 2.5 kg/ha as foliar application at 30 and 45 DAT, along with soil application of NPK.