Vol. 10, Issue 4 (2021)

Author(s):
Anandhan J, Shamugasundaram R, Saravana Pandian P, Swaminathan C, Vanniarajan C and Govindaraj M

Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, during the summer, 2019 to study the effect of zinc and iron fertilizers on content, uptake and total dry matter yield of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.)] cultivars. The treatments consisted of five cultivars and five treatments of soil application of iron and zinc replicated twice in factorial randomized block design. The results revealed that soil application of Fe-EDTA @ 6.25 kg ha^-1 + Zn-EDTA @ 3.12 kg ha^-1 (SA₄) recorded the highest total dry matter yield of 8627 kg ha^-1. Among the cultivars, Kaveri Super Boss (C₄) showed a maximum total dry matter yield of 8960 kg ha^-1. The significantly higher total dry matter yield of 9253 kg ha^-1 was registered by Kaveri Super Boss (C₄) X Fe-EDTA @ 6.25 kg ha^-1 and Zn-EDTA @ 3.12 kg ha^-1 (SA₄) combination. Higher zinc uptake of 320 kg ha^-1 was registered by C₂SA₄ and it was statistically comparable with C₂SA₃ (315 g ha^-1). Soil application of Fe-EDTA @ 6.25 kg ha^-1 and Zn-EDTA @ 3.12 kg ha^-1 (SA₄) recorded the mean highest iron content and uptake of 250 mg kg^-1 and 1151 g ha^-1, respectively. The cultivar C₂ (ICMH 1301) recorded significantly higher total dry matter iron content and uptake of 255 mg kg^-1 and 1159 g ha^-1, respectively. The higher iron content and uptake of 302 mg kg^-1 and 1444 g ha^-1 was observed for C₂ (ICMH 1301) with SA₄ (Fe-EDTA @ 6.25 kg ha^-1 + Zn-EDTA @ 3.12 kg ha^-1) combination. The maximum zinc content and uptake of 58.1 mg kg^-1 and 254 g ha^-1 respectively were registered by the soil application SA₄ (Fe-EDTA @ 6.25 kg ha^-1 + Zn-EDTA @ 3.12 kg ha^-1). The maximum zinc uptake (257 g ha^-1) was registered by ICMH 1301 (C₂). Higher zinc uptake of 320 g ha^-1 was registered by C₂SA₄ and it was statistically comparable with C₂SA₃ (315 g ha^-1).