Verma, AkhilGulshan, Tajalee2022-10-192022-10-192022-10Preferred for your work.Gulshan, T. 2022. Agronomic Bio-fortification of Multicut Oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivars through Zinc Applications under Irrigated Ecology.M.Sc. Sher-e Kashmir university of agricultural Sciences and technology -jammu36920https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810189179Anexperimententitled“Agronomic Bio-fortification of Multicut Oat (Avena sativa L.) Cultivars through Zinc Applications under Irrigated Ecology” was conducted at the Research Farm, Division of Agronomy, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu,Chatha during the Rabi season of 2021-22, with the objective to bio-fortify Oat forage with Zinc besides assessing the response of Zinc applications on the overall growth, yield and nutrient uptake by the Oat cultivars under study.The soil of theexperimental site was sandy clay loam in texture, slightly alkaline,low in available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus and potassium. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with two varieties of Oats in Main Plots (JHO-851 and OL-10) while variable applications of Zinc sulphate were arranged in Sub plots, having 8 treatments with total treatment combinations of 16, replicated thrice. Zn was supplied through zinc sulphateheptahydrate (ZnSO4.7H2O) @ 25 kg ha-1.Among the Oat varieties JHO-851 performed best in all the parameters under investigation. In sub plots, a significant enhancement was recorded in all the growth, yield attributes and forage yields under all the Zinc application treatments compared to the control T1(RDF-No Zinc) where no Zinc was applied, at both harvests 60 DAS and 105 DAS (final cutting). Among different Zinc applications, sole treatments of Zinc either through soil @ 25kg Zinc sulphate or by foliar applications 0.5% Zinc, didnot prove to be much effective in the forage yield enhancement and Zinc enrichment in fodder. However, Zincaugmentation of soil with foliar sprays both at 45 DAS and 90 DAS recorded significant improvement in all crop growth parameters, forage yields, N:P: K and Zinc uptake. The best treatment at 60 DAS was T6 (RDF+Soil application of Zinc Sulphate @ 25 kg ha-1 + Foliar application of Zinc Sulphate @ 0.5% at 45 DAS) while treatment T8 (RDF+Soil application of Zinc Sulphate @ 25 kg ha-1 + Foliar application of Zinc Sulphate @ 0.5% at 45 DAS and 90 DAS) emerged the best treatment. With regard to quality parameters, Zinc applications significantly improved Crude Protein (CP) under treatments T6 and T8 at both cuts during 60 DAS and 105DAS, respectively.However, other quality parameters like NDF, ADF and Hemicellulose were not significantly influenced by different treatments of Zinc. Likewise, relative economics also showed that Treatment T8 (RDF+Soil application of Zinc Sulphate @ 25 kg ha-1 + Foliar application of Zinc Sulphate @ 0.5% at 45 DAS and 90 DAS) was the most remunerative recording highest net returns of 48,204.5 ha-1 with the maximum B:C ratio of 1.33. In a nutshell, the present investigation reveals that enrichment of Zinc in Oats with agronomical means is useful as it not only enriches the fodder with Zinc but also helps in improving the yields and the overall quality of the fodder besides being economically beneficial.EnglishThesis