Effect of foliar v/s soil application of micro-nutrients to wheat, Triticum aestivum L.

Homogenous seeds of a standard wheat variety TD-1 were drilled in thirty plots, each plot measuring an area of 24x7.5 meter using a four replicated Randomized Complete Block Design. The details of the treatments with nitrogen, phosphorus and micronutrients (kg/per ha) are: T1= 130-65-K 2%, T2= 130-65-Zn 1%, T3= 130-65-B 0.2%, T4= 130-65-Cu 2%, T5= 130-65-Mg 1%, T6= 130-65-Zn 6kg, T7= 130-65-B 3.5 kg Borax, T8= 130-65-Cu 5 kg CuSO4, T9= 130-65-Mg 3 kg Magnesium sulphate, T10= 130-65-0 Control. The NP fertilizer was applied in the form of urea and DAP, 1/3 N plus whole P was applied along with micronutrient (soil application) at the time of sowing, while rest of N was applied at various crop developmental stages, while foliar application of micronutrients was made at booting stage. All the required operations were adopted throughout the growing period. For recording observations on different agronomic parameters five plants were selected randoml y from each plot and tagged. While, grain yield per treatment obtained at maturity was calculated as grain yield per ha. The data thus collected were subjected to analysis of variance to test the superiority of treatment mean LSD test was applied. The findings of the experiment shows that plant height affected significantly (P less than 0.01) by the fertilizer treatments. Number of application of micronutrients or foliar application of mg (1%) produced equally maximum plant height (92.28 and 91.89 cm). The differences in number of tillers per plant between the fertilizer treatments were highly significant. Wheat treated with soil application of 6 kg Zn per ha produced maximum number of tillers (20.81 per plant) the second best treatment was 3.5 kg B per ha (18.60 per plant). Spike length varied significantly between the fertilizer treatments (P less than 0.01), among the micronutrient treatments soil application of 6 kg Zn per ha displayed longer spikes (13.84 cm), followed b y 3.5 kg B per ha (13.02 cm), and 3 kg Mg per ha (12.61 cm) respectively. However, foliar applications of micronutrients were less effective although superior to basal dressing of NP. The grains per spike of wheat differed among the treatments (P less than 0.01). Soil application of Zn at 6 kg per ha resulted in greater number of grains (71.95 per spike), followed by 3.5 kg B per ha (65.08 per spike) and 3 kg Mg per ha (64.92 per spike) respectively. However, no application of micronutrients resulted in poor grain number (46.62 per spike). Micronutrient treatments had pronounced effect on 1000 grain weight (P less than 0.01). Wheat crop treated with 6 kg Zn per ha through soil dressing gave maximum seed index (68.66 g), followed by 3.5 kg B per ha (63.12 g) and 3 kg Mg per ha (63.08 g) respectively, while no application of micronutrients resulted in poor seed index value (50.68 g). Grain yield affected significantly by the micronutrient treatments. Wheat receiving 6 kg Zn per ha through soil application gave higher wheat grain yield (5113.33 kg per ha), closely followed by 3 kg Mg per ha (4944.33 kg per ha) and 3.5 kg B per ha (99.28.00 kg per ha) respectively. However, minimum grain yield was recorded when no trace elements were applied (4124.67 kg per ha). On the basis of present study, it may be concluded that soil application of micronutrients were relatively more effective than foliar application in the local soil conditions. Among the micronutrients Zn applied at 6 kg per ha followed by 3 kg Mg per ha and 3.5 kg B per ha gave higher grain yield due to increased values in all yield related parameters.