Response of Pearl Millet to Hydrogel Application and Zinc Fertilization under Semi-arid Conditions of Rajasthan

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner (Rajasthan) during the Kharif 2021 on loamy sand soil. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with four levels each of hydrogel (control, 2.5 kg ha-1,5.0 kg ha-1 and 7.5 kg ha-1) and zinc sulphate (control, foliar spray of ZnSO4@ 0.25%, 0.5% and 0.75%). Pearl millet crop grown with 'Pusa Hydrogel' with all application rates yielded higher than control. Yield obtained with application of 5.0 and 7.5 kg ha-1 hydrogel was at par with each other and also showed significantly increased earhead length, earhead girth, grain weight per earhead and 1000 grains weight over 2.5 kg ha-1 hydrogel and also of control. Results showed that foliar spray of 0.5% ZnSO4 significantly improved yield attributes viz., earhead length, earhead girth, grain weight per earhead and 1000 grains weight and further grain and stover yield of pearl millet over foliar spray of 0.25% ZnSO4 and control. Increasing application rate to 0.75% gave no additional yield advantage. In economics, B:C ratio of 1.75 and 1.78 was recorded with application of 'Pusa Hydrogel' at 5.0 kg ha-1 and foliar spray of ZnSO4 at 0.5%, respectively.