Effect of Zinc Management Practices on Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The field experiment entitled “Effect of Zinc Management Practices on Growth and yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)” was conducted during rabi season of 2024–25 at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Tantia University, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan (India). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with eight treatments replicated thrice viz., T₁: Control; T₂: ZnSO₄ Seed Priming (0.5%); T₃: ZnSO₄ Foliar Spray (0.5%); T₄: ZnSO₄ Soil Application (25 kg/ha); T₅: ZnSO₄ Seed Priming + 1 Foliar Spray; T₆: ZnSO₄ Soil Application + 1 Foliar Spray; T₇: ZnSO₄ Seed Priming + 2 Foliar Spray; T₈: ZnSO₄ Soil Application + 2 Foliar Spray. The results revealed that significantly higher plant height (at 60, 90 DAS and harvest), leaf length (at 60 and 90 DAS), number of leaves/plants (at 60 and 90 DAS) and number of tillers per m² (at 60 and 90 DAS) was recorded with ZnSO₄ soil application (25 kg/ha) + 2 foliar sprays of ZnSO₄ (0.5%), which was found statistically at par with ZnSO₄ soil application (25 kg/ha) + 1 foliar spray of ZnSO₄ (0.5%). The significantly higher number of effective tillers per m², spike length, grains per spike, test weight, grain, straw and biological yield as well as harvest index of wheat was recorded with ZnSO₄ soil application (25 kg/ha) + 2 foliar sprays of ZnSO₄ (0.5%), which was found statistically at par with ZnSO₄ soil application (25 kg/ha) + 1 foliar spray of ZnSO₄ (0.5%). Based on the findings of present investigation, it may conclude that soil application of ZnSO₄ @ 25 kg/ha + 2 foliar sprays of ZnSO₄ @ 0.5% (at 30 & 60 DAS) gave higher growth, yield attributes and yield of wheat.