Evaluation of soil applied Arbuscular mycorrhiza along with foliar nutrition of nitrogen, iron and zinc on, mycorrhizal colonization, physiological parameters, growth and yield of rice under aerobic condition

In rice belts, cultivation of rice under aerobic conditions provides an alternative way to reduce the enormous amounts of water usage, by using 50 percent of the water when compared to traditional cultivation. However, micronutrient deficiencies are more common in aerobic rice during its early stages of growth. Mycorrhizal fungi were found to be efficient in mobilizing the nutrients under aerobic situations.

The field experiment was conducted in Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. The experiment consisted of thirteen treatments which includes different recommended doses of VAM 50, 62.5 and 75kg ha^-1 along with different combinations of foliar application of 0.5% urea, 0.5% ZnSO₄ and 1% FeSO₄.

The study revealed that combined application of 150 % of recommended dose of VAM and foliar application of 0.5% urea + 0.5% ZnSO₄ + 1% FeSO₄ at 25 and 45 DAS significantly increased the VAM colonization area, photosynthetic pigments and growth parameters such as plant height, shoot and root weight, root growth, leaf area index and yield attributes and it was found to be a better optionin rice cultivation to overcome the micronutrient deficiencies in its earlier stages under aerobic conditions.