Legume Research

Considering the higher efficiency of nano fertilizers than chemical ones, the current study on nano Zn was undertaken to evaluate its effects on growth, yield, uptake and economics over other Zn sources on lentil.

Field experiment was carried out during rabi seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21 at the Instructional Farm of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India with seven treatments using different sources of Zn through foliar and soil application in randomised block design replicated thrice. Zn uptake was calculated after testing Zn concentration through wet digestion followed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer determination of collected samples.

Pooled result of the experiment revealed that foliar spray of nano Zn @ 20 ppm at 30 and 50 DAS (T₅) resulted significantly higher plant height, LAI, dry matter accumulation, 1000 seed weight, number and dry weight of nodules plant^-1, uptake of Zn, economics. This treatment produced 29.34% and 30.33% more seed and stover respectively than without Zn application.