Zinc uptake and yield of wheat as influenced by zinc fertilizer in Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone of Assam, India

Field experiment was conducted at AAU-Regional Agricultural Research Station, Shillongani, Nagaon, Assam during 2014–15 to 2016–17 rabi season to evaluate the Zn uptake and yield of wheat (variety CBW 38) in response to Zn-fertilization complemented with recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF). Zinc was applied as ZnSO₄.7H₂O to the soil at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 kg ha⁻¹. The treatments were compared with foliar spray (0.5%) with or without soil application (10 kg ha⁻¹) of Zn, both as ZnSO₄.7H₂O, RDF without Zn and %RDF-vermicompost (2 t ha⁻¹) instant mixture (comlizer). The grain yield increased significantly with soil application of ZnSO₄ up to 15 kg ha⁻¹. The foliar spray of ZnSO₄.7H₂O (0.5%) alone was not effective, but the same combined with soil application significantly increased grain yield of wheat and was at par with ZnSO₄.7H₂O 15 kg ha⁻¹. The highest Zn uptake by wheat was recorded with application of 15 kg ha⁻¹ ZnSO₄.7H₂O, which also gave highest net economic return of wheat production.