Effect of different concentrations of soil and foliar applied zinc, boron and iron fertilizers on seedling growth, chlorophyll content and productivity of chickpea seedlings under semi-arid environment
2024
Munir, Muhammad Kashif | Zafar, Muhammad | Babar, Babar Hussain | Zafar, Nawal | Ahmed, Siraj | Aleem Sarwar, Muhammad | Iqbal, Saba | Asmatullah | Akhtar, Naveed | Saeed, Muhammad | saqib, Muhammad | Hussain, Sadam
The effectiveness of zinc (Zn), boron (B), and iron (Fe) is reduced in semi-arid regions, which can lead to a deficiency of these nutrients and inhibit chickpea productivity. In this work, three field experiments were executed over two years where soil and foliar applications of Zn, B, and Fe were carried out, including controls (Zn0, B0, and F0), soil application at 4.125 kg/ha (Zn-1, B1, and F1) and 8.25 kg/ha (Zn-2, B2, and F2), and foliar spay at 0.3% at flowering initiating (Zn-3, B3, and F3) and one week after flowering initiation (Zn-4, B4, and F4, respectively). The results indicate that the deficiency of these nutrients inhibited chickpea growth and yield, leading to a reduction in the pigment contents. Nonetheless, soil and foliar application of Zn, B, and Fe significantly improved growth, chlorophyll contents, and yield, showing a dose-dependent effect. The best results were recorded for Zn-3, B2, and F2 treatments which significantly (P<0.05) increased shoot length (20.96-85.19%), root length (42.85-93.65%), shoot fresh (23-76%) and root fresh weight (45-90.32%), compared with the control treatment. Chlorophyll parameters, including chlorophyll a and b contents, showed similar trends. Zn-3, B2, and F2 treatments significantly increased biological and grain yields, which were associated with higher values of the number of pods per plant and the number of seeds per pod. In a nutshell, we suggest that Zn foliar application at 0.3% at flowering initiation and soil application of B and Fe at 25 kg/ha are beneficial for improving the growth, pigment content, and overall productivity of chickpea.
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