Rice Chemistry Section, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur-208 002, Uttar Pradesh, India
The response of rice cultivars to Zn in sodic soil were investigated. The treatments consisted of 3 levels of zinc in the main plot i.e. 0, 25 and 50 kg of ZnSO4 ha-1 and two native land races Bejhari and Kalmuhil; two salt tolerant rice cultivars, Vikash and CSR-10 and two popular high yielding varieties Sarjoo-52 and PB-1 in the sub plots replicated four times. Yield of different rice cultivars increased significantly with increasing levels of zinc upto 50 kg ha-1. The grain yield of Bejhari was at par with Kalmuhi during both the years whereas the grain yield of Vikash, CSR-10, Sarjoo-52 and PB-1 differed significantly from each other within their groups. The uptake of zinc by grain and straw increased significantly with increasing levels of zinc upto 50 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 during both the years. The zinc utilization efficiency of different rice cultivars declined with increase in the rates of zinc application. Zinc utilization efficiency was higher in the varieties Bejhari,CSR-10 and Sarjoo-52. The two native land races Bejhari and Kalmuhi responded less to zinc application as compared to salt tolerant rice cultivars and HYVs.
Sodic soil, native land races, salt tolerant rice cultivars, HYVs, yield attributes, zinc acquisition and ZnUE)
