VENKATESWARLU, B.BHARGAV, GOKADA2022-08-082022-08-082022-08-08D6214https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810186118STUDIES ON ZINC FORTIFICATION IN FINGER MILLETA field experiment titled “Studies on zinc fortification in finger millet” was carried out during kharif, 2019 at the Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University. The experiment was laid out in simple Randomised Block Design with eight treatments and replicated thrice. The treatments comprises of T1: Absolute Control, T2: Soil Test Based Fertilizer (STBF), T3: STBF + FYM @ 10 t ha-1, T4: STBF + ZnSO4 @ 50 kg ha-1 (Soil), T5: STBF + ZnSO4 @ 0.50% at 60 DAS (Foliar spray), T6: STBF + ZnSO4 @ 0.50% at 60 and 75 DAS (Foliar spray), T7: STBF + Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 DAS (Foliar Spray), T8: STBF + Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS (Foliar Spray). Soil and foliar application of zinc fertilizer along with soil test based fertilizer (STBF) application exerted a significant influence on plant growth parameters, yield attributes, yield, quality parameters and economic returns. Plant growth characters like height (122.2 cm), drymatter production (10600 kg ha-1) and yield attributing characters like number of tillers (234.1 m-2), number of earheads (224.2 m-2), grains per finger (94.2), number fingers earhead-1 (7.6) were the highest with foliar application of Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS along with soil test based NPK fertilizer application (T8) compared to rest of the treatments. Grain and stover yield of finger millet also differed significantly with application of zinc management treatments. Significantly the higher grain yield (2700 kg ha-1) of finger millet was recorded with treatment (T8) Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS along with soil test based NPK fertilizer application over the rest of the treatments. The higher straw yield was recorded with STBF + foliar application of nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS which was on par with T7, T4, T6, T5 and T3. The harvest index was not significantly influenced by the zinc management treatments. xvi Application of soil test based NPK along with foliar application of Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS (T8) recorded significantly the higher protein content in grain (9.8%) and ash content in grain (1.9%) over the rest of the treatments. It was followed by treatment (T7) application of soil test based NPK along with foliar application of Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 DAS. The crude fibre in grain (3.0%) of finger millet was recorded with treatment (T2) soil test based NPK fertilizer application was significantly higher than that of rest of the treatments except T3. Among different zinc management treatments significantly the highest Zn (75.3 mg kg-1) concentration in grain was recorded with application of soil test based NPK along with foliar application of Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS (T8) over the other treatments. Iron content of the finger millet grain was not significantly influenced by the zinc management practices. Plant uptake of zinc at different stages varied significantly with different zinc management practices. Basal application of zinc sulphate @ 50 kg ha-1 recorded the highest plant uptake (156 g ha-1) of zinc at panicle initiation stage. Soil test based NPK fertilization along with foliar application of Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS i.e. T8 recorded the highest plant uptake of zinc at grain filling (272 g ha-1) and at harvest stage (307 g ha-1). Significantly higher gross returns (₹ 89397 ha-1) was recorded with T8 treatment i.e. STBF + foliar application of Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS over the rest of the treatments. Net returns recorded was highest with treatment (T8) and it was at par with treatment T4, T7 and T6. The highest benefit cost ratio (2.37) was recorded with T4 treatment i.e. STBF + soil application of ZnSO4 @ 50 kg ha-1 and it was found on par with treatment T6. In conclusion, the present study revealed that productivity and quality of finger millet increased with application of soil test based NPK fertilizer along with foliar application of Nano ZnO @ 500 ppm at 60 and 75 DAS. The same nutritional management strategy also realized the highest B:C ratio was found in soil application of ZnSO4 @ 50 kg ha-1 along with soil test based fertilizer indicating that it is economically viable.EnglishThesis