Response of zinc application on growth, zinc content and grain yield of rice genotypes and correlation between zinc content and yield attributes of rice genotypes
Field experiments were conducted during kharif 2013 and 2014 at Agricultural Research Station, Mugad, University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad (Karnataka), to determine the response of zinc applicationon on growth, zinc content and grain yield of rice genotypes and also studied correlation between yield and zinc content. The experiment was comprised of 20 genotypes and three treatments viz., T1: Control (no zinc); T2: Soil application of ZnSO4 (20 kg ha-1) T3– Foliar Spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5% at 50% flowering, laid out in factorial randomized block design with two replications. The data revealed that application of ZnSO4 recorded significantly higher plant height (85.9 cm), leaf area (764.5 cm-2 plant-1), number of tillers (95.4 m-1), total dry weight (26.1 g plant-1), panicle weight(15.3 g plant-1), number of panicles (81.6 m-1) and grain yield(3966 kg ha-1) over the foliar application of Zn and control . However number of grains panicle-1 (97.8 panicle-1), test weight (23.7 g), shoot and seed zinc content (15.9 and 21.2 ppm, respectively) were increased with foliar application of Zn. Correlation studies classified the genotypes as high seed zinc content (> 21 ppm) and low seed zinc content genotypes ( less than 21 ppm). High and low seed zinc content genotypes showed negative correlation with yield and yield attributes. However, shoot zinc content was positively correlated with yield.