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NAAS Journal
International Journal of Agriculture and Nutrition

Vol. 7, Issue 1, Part A (2025)

Performance of pearl millet cultivars as influenced by different zinc and iron fertifortification strategies in semi-arid tropics

Author(s):

Eppala Jeevana Lakshmi, Dinesh Kumar M, Kumar Naik AH, Sawargaonkar GL, Veeranna HK and Sarvajna Salimath

Abstract:

Two field experiments were conducted during Kharif, 2018 and 2019 on clay loam soils at Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Babbur farm, Hiriyur, Karnataka to evaluate the performance of pearl millet cultivars by different zinc and iron fertifortification methods in semi-arid tropics. Micronutrient (Zn and Fe) management strategies include application of NPK, deficit iron and zinc through soil and foliar application and FYM enriched with iron and zinc along with PGPR as main plot treatments and three pearl millet cultivars ICTP 8203 Fe (Dhanshakti) ICMH 1202 and WCC 75 (local cultivar) as sub plots laid in split plot design replicated thrice. The application of enriched FYM + PGPR achieved significantly higher grain yield of pearl millet (1919 kg ha-1) accounting 13.95 per cent increase over without micronutrient application (1684 kg ha-1). Among the pearl millet cultivars, ICMH 1202 reported significantly higher grain yield (2097 kg ha-1) due to higher growth (16.51 leaves plant-1, 18.28 dm2 leaf area, 2.71 leaf area index at 60 DAS, 3.01 tillers plant-1 and 30.09 g dry matter plant-1 at harvest) and yield (1.31 effective tillers plant-1, 20.92 cm ear head length and 16.69 g grain weight ear head-1) parameters. This hybrid accounted for 43.82 per cent higher grain yield over WCC 75. The cultivars tested performed better in plots supplemented with iron and zinc enriched FYM along with PGPR.

Pages: 26-31  |  46 Views  11 Downloads


International Journal of Agriculture and Nutrition
How to cite this article:
Eppala Jeevana Lakshmi, Dinesh Kumar M, Kumar Naik AH, Sawargaonkar GL, Veeranna HK and Sarvajna Salimath. Performance of pearl millet cultivars as influenced by different zinc and iron fertifortification strategies in semi-arid tropics. Int. J. Agric. Nutr. 2025;7(1):26-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33545/26646064.2025.v7.i1a.199
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