Effect of Foliar Application of Zinc and Boron on Growth Attributes and Yield of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Varieties
Rahul Kumar
Department of Forestry, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar -848125, India.
Binoy Kumar Saren
Department of Agronomy, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal 731236, India.
Shriman Kumar Patel *
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal, M.P. 462045, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted on loamy sandy soil during the winter season at Agricultural Farm of Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India to evaluate the effect of foliar application of zinc and boron on growth attributes and yield of chickpea. In this experiment, 4 varieties of chickpea (Anuradha, ICPK, JSKB and RVSJ4-102) were applied with Zn and B ((Zinc 0.5%, Boron 0.1%, Zinc 0.5%+Boron 0.1% along with control) through foliar application at branching time and pre-flowering stage. The experiment findings revealed that the Variety RVSJ4-102 gave higher plant height (20.98cm), dry matter accumulation (114.49 g/m-2), leaf area index (1.27), chlorophyll content (2.25 mg/g fresh leaf) and yield (26.28 q/ha) of chickpea compared to other variety. However, foliar application of (zinc 0.5%+boron 0.1%) had significant effect in influencing the growth attributes and yield of chickpea followed by single application of zinc 0.5% and boron 0.1% as compared to control. Foliar application of (zinc 0.5%+boron 0.1%) produced 26.47 % higher seed yield than control. This experiment suggested that the combined single foliar application of (zinc 0.5% + boron 0.1%) prove best treatment as compared to individual application of zinc 0.5% and boron 0.1%.
Keywords: Chickpea, zinc, boron, growth attributes, yield