Agronomic bio-fortification through nutrient management to enhanced growth, yield and quality of pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)

An experiment was conducted at Research Farm Area, Department of Agronomy, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during kharif 2022 to study the effect of integrated nutrient management on growth and quality parameters of pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum L.). The experiment was conducted in randomized block design with three replications containing 12 treatments. The crop was sown on 12 July, 2022 using pearl millet hybrid ‘HHB 67 improved’. Among the treatments, application of recommended dose of fertilize-RDF (156.25:62.50 kg ha⁻¹ N:P) + 0.5% ZnSO₄ + 0.5% FeSO₄ + BIOMIX (T₁₂) resulted in significantly higher plant height (180.67 cm), dry matter accumulation (65.73 g plant⁻¹), leaf area index (2.67) at 60 DAS, zinc (67.47 ppm) and iron content (73.48 ppm) in grain of pearlmillet. It was statistically comparable to RDF + 0.5% ZnSO₄ + 0.5% FeSO₄ at 25 DAS (T₁₁) and RDF + 25 kg ha⁻¹ ZnSO₄ (T₈). The Zn and Fe content in grains was 12.2 and 5.7% and 5.8 and 2.9% higher over the control and RDF, respectively. Maximum protein and NPK content were recorded in T₁₂ i.e. RDF (156.25:62.50 kg ha⁻¹ N:P) + 0.5% ZnSO₄ + 0.5% FeSO₄ + BIOMIX.