Effect of Zinc Application on Growth,Yield Parameters, Nutrient Uptake, Yield and Economics of Maize Ariraman R.*, Selvakumar S.1, Mansingh M. David Israel2, Karthikeyan M.3, Vasline Y. Anitha4 Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India. 1Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India. 2Department of Soils and Environment, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India. 3Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India. 4Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Annamalai University, Chidambaram-608 002, Tamil Nadu, India. *Corresponding Author: R. Ariraman, Department of Agronomy, Agricultural college and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: ariariraman@gmail.com
Online published on 15 April, 2022. Abstract Maize, referred as Queen of cereals is the third most important cereal crop after rice and wheat in India. Maize serves as both human food as well as animal feed and for. Productivity of maize can be increased by proper nutrient management practices. Maize is a zinc responsive crop and found deficient in soils. Zinc as an essential micronutrient that has significant role in basic plant metabolic processes and enhances the growth, yield and quality of maize by stimulating chlorophyll production, photosynthetic activity, nutrient uptake and protein biosynthesis. The zinc application to maize crop either by seed treatment, soil application or by foliar spray by using inorganics have shown significant impact on growth, yield, nutrient uptake, quality and economics from investigations of eminent researchers with increasing trend in productivity. Application of zinc at 20–25 kg ha−1 to maize gave maximum grain yield (7500 kg ha−1) and benefit cost ratio (2.4) in maize. Top Keywords Growth, Maize, Nutrient uptake, Productivity, Quality, Yield, Zinc application, Zinc. Top |