Soil application of zinc enhanced growth parameters in Paddy in North West Himalayas

The experiment was conducted during kharif 2017 and 2018 seasons in five villages of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh to study the impact of zinc supplementation on growth and yield parameters in paddy. Three treatments were comprised of T₁: Farmer’s practice (FP) 12:32:16 (NPK) 100 kg/ ha and Urea 100 kg/ha, T₂: FYM @ 20 t/ha + Recommended dose of 100% NPK @ 125:100:60 kg/ ha and T₃: T₂+ zinc sulphate @ 25 kg/ha. Farm Yard Manure (FYM) @ 20 t/ha + recommended dose (100 % NPK) along with ZnSO₄ @ 25 kg/ha applied at the time of transplanting. The significant increase in growth parameters viz. plant height (111.2 cm), number of tillers (14.30), ear length (27.65 cm) and days of maturity (113.32) was recorded as compared to the control T₁ (103.05 cm, 10.70, 21.85 cm and 110.6). 1000 grain weight, grain yield and straw yield recorded in T₃ were 21.77 g, 45.75 and 56.28 q/ ha, respectively. The highest net return and B:C ratio were recorded in T₃ (Rs. 42791/-and 2.26) over the farmers’ practice T₁with net return of Rs. 29625/- and B:C ratio 1.94 where the zinc was applied. The harvest index and nutrient concentration in soil also recorded the increase during both the years of study. The treatment T₂ also reported the significant improvement over the farmer’s practice T₁ in growth and yield parameters, harvest index, zinc content in soil and economics during both the years.