Effect of zinc fertilization on growth and yield of basmati rice (Oryza sativa) varieties

A field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 2018 and 2019 at the Crop Research Centre (Campus), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Modipuram, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, to evaluate the effect of zinc fertilization on growth, yield attributes and yield of basmati rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties. Among the varieties ‘Pusa Basmati 1121’ showed the highest values of growth parameters, yield attributes and yield and was at par with ‘Pusa Basmati 1509’ during both the years. Variety, ‘Pusa Basmati 1121’ gave about 8.8% and 9.9%, 2.6% and 2.0% higher yield than ‘Pusa Basmati 1401’ and ‘Pusa Basmati 1509’ during both the years. On the other hand, the rice grain yield was increased by 6.6 and 8.0% in ‘Pusa Basmati 1509’ as compared to ‘Pusa Basmati 1401’ during 2018 and 2019, respectively. Plant height (103.5 and 102.5 cm), leaf area index (5.12 and 4.93), days taken to maturity (144.5 and 143.9 days), effective tillers/m2 (422.9 and 414.1), grains weight/panicle (1.90 and 1.81 g) and were found better with ‘Pusa Basmati 1121’. ‘Pusa Basmati 1401’ showed the lowest growth parameters, yield-attributing characters and yield during both the years. Among the zinc-management practices seedling dipping in 2% ZnSO4 + foliar spray @ 0.5% at tillering and panicle-initiation stage was found to be the best for the growth parameters, yield attributes and yield in ‘Pusa Basmati 1121’. ‘Pusa Basmati 1509’ with seedling dipping in 2% ZnSO4 + foliar spray @ 0.5% at tillering and panicle-initiation stage exhibited significant increase in the growth parameters, yield-attributing characters and finally the yield, leading to enhanced productivity of basmati rice.