Effect of Zinc as Foliar Application on Growth, Quality and Yield of Lentil (Len culinaris)

The field experiment entitled “Effect of zinc as foliar application on growth, quality and yield of lentil (Len culinaris)” was conducted in rabi season at Agriculture Research Farm of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab (India) in 2022. The farm is situated at a geographical altitude of 31.290p  N and a longitude of 75.7021p  E, or 5423 meters above sea level. Punjab has a tropical monsoon climate with average temperatures between 10 and 46 degrees Celsius, with summer highs of 49 degrees Celsius and lows of 1 degree Celsius in the winter.
 
Treatment and design
 
This factorial RBD experiment, which was conducted in three replications, had seven treatment combinations. T₀ control (0%), T₁ (100% RDF), T₂ (75% RDF+ Zn 0.02%), T₃ (75% RDF + Zn 0.04%), T₄ (50% RDF + Zn 0.06%), T₅ (50% RDF + Zn 0.08%) and T₆ (50% RDF + Zn 0.10%) were the seven Zn levels that were given foliar three times at 30 DAS, 60 DAS and 90 DAS. Lentils of the LL1373 variety were sown in lines with a 30-cm row spacing. A 45 kg/ha seeding rate was used. The agrochemical used was commercial-grade zinc sulfate (ZnSO₄). Every fourteen days, the crop was manually weeded to maintain its development. To control termites and ants, 20% EC chloropyrifos was applied at 500-1200 mlha^-1.
 
Experimental design and data analysis
 
This factorial RBD experiment had three replications and seven treatment combinations. Using statistical analysis software (OPSTAT), an ANOVA of a randomized block design (RBD) was conducted on all recorded data in order to determine the impact of zinc as foliar treatment on lentil growth, quality and yield.
 
Observations recorded
 
For the purpose of collecting data at different stages of development-30, 60 and 90 DAS-five plants were chosen and tagged. After the plants with random tags were taken out, the height of each one was measured from the base of the final fully opened leaf to the ground. The height of the plants was calculated in cm using the average of these measurements. When the tagged plants were harvested, the number of branches per plant was counted and the average was calculated. The leaf area index was calculated using the ground area and leaf area of the plant. Using a SPAD meter, the chlorophyll index of five different plants was determined. Three leaf sections (the tip, middle and bottom) were used to get the mean data. Raising biomass levels is critical to crop development. Each of the five randomly chosen plants had the number of fully developed, ripe pods carrying seeds counted when it was time for harvest. At the time of harvest, the average number of seeds in each pod was calculated from three pods from five randomly selected plants in the plot. The bulk yield of five randomly chosen plants in each replication was used to count the hundred seeds for each entry and then each plant’s weight was measured in grams using a single pan electronic balance. After being sun-dried to a predetermined moisture content, seeds were weighed in grams from the net plot. kg/ha was calculated by multiplying the seed yield per plot by a multiplicative factor. Straw yield may be calculated by deducting the weight of grains per plot from the gross weight of the bundle and converting to kg/ha.

Growth characteristics
 
For every growth parameter, a significant result was reported (Table 1 and 2) at the 5% level. The plant highest height at 30 DAS was 11.44 cm at T₃ (75% RDF Zn @ 0.04%), whereas their minimum height was 8.63 cm at T₀ (actual control). The height of the plants at 60 DAS was found to be minimal at 17.30 cm at T₀ (actual control) and highest at 19.92 cm at T₃ (75% RDF Zn @ 0.04%) following the application of zinc sulfate. The plant height at 90 DAS was 24.36 cm at T₀ (actual control) and 28.29 cm at T₃ (75% RDF Zn @ 0.04%). Similar situations have demonstrated notable growth and yield increases when zinc was used at different amounts. Under Indo-Gangetic Bihar conditions, foliar application of zinc (0.04%) is advantageous and economical for lentil production (Singh and Bhatt 2013). When it came to the number of branches per plant, the range at harvest was 11.67 to 21.67. The T3 treatment (75% RDF Zn @ 0.04%) had the most branches per plant at 21.67, while the T0 treatment (actual control) had the fewest branches at 11.67. According to Singh and Bhatt (2013), the analysis revealed that Zn has the maximum number of branches, with 0.04% (16.3). At 23.81, the highest chlorophyll index was discovered in T₃ (75% RDF Zn @ 0.04%) was 23.81. and it was discovered that the lowest value at T₀ (actual control) was 10.89. At T₃ (75% RDF Zn @ 0.04%), a maximum leaf area index of 2.30 was recorded and at T₀ (control), a minimum of 2.08. Compared to 30-60 DAS CGR, the crop growth rate of 60-90 DAS crops was much greater. In the 30-60 DAS and 60-90 DAS time periods, the maximum CGRs of 0.89 and 0.93 were observed at T₃ (75% RDF Zn @ 0.04%) and the minimums of 0.72 and 0.76 at T₀ (control).




 
Quality
 
The data results for NPK and protein content were significant (Table 3) at the 5% level. Protein content rises in tandem with Zn levels. At T₆ (50% RDF zinc @ 0.10%), the greatest protein content was measured at 32.77%, whereas at T₀ (control), the minimum protein level was 23.56%. At T₆ (50% Zn RDF @ 0.10%), the highest N concentration was reported as 5.24%, while at T₀ (actual control), the minimum was recorded as 3.77%. Whereas in phosphorous, highest content was recorded as 2.10% in T₂ (75% RDF + Zinc @ 0.02%) and lowest was recorded as 1.58% in T₆ (50% RDF+ Zinc @ 0.10%). Potassium concentration of 2.15% at T₆ (50% Zn RDF @ 0.10%) and a minimum of 0.94% at T₀ (actual control). According to Singh and Bhatt (2013), the highest N concentration in a comparable cast was determined to be 1.98% (Zn 0.08%), the highest P content to be 0.73% (Zn 0.02%) and the highest K content to be 0.95% (Zn 0.02%).


 
Yield characteristics
 
At the 5% level, the yield parameter data (Table 4) were significant. At T₅, the highest recorded number of pods/plants was 56.87 (50% Zn RDF @0.08%), while at T₀ (control), the lowest recorded number of pods/plants was 41.80. Similar to this, 0.08% Zn (63.8) had the greatest pods/plant (Singh and Bhatt 2013). At T₅ (50% Zn RDF @0.08%), the greatest number of seeds/pod was 1.83, while at T₀ (actual control), the least was 1.47. In T₅ (50% Zn RDF @ 0.08%), the greatest weight of 1000 seeds was 44.00 g, whereas in T₀ (actual control), the lowest weight was 32.33 g. A comparable investigation discovered that the maximum weight of 1000 seeds was 25 g (Zn 0.08%) (Singh and Bhatt, 2013). In T5 (50% RDF + Zinc @0.08%), the highest grain production was measured at 1695.00 kg/ha, whereas in T₀ (actual control), the minimum was measured at 1111.67 kg/ha. According to the data, T5 at 0.08% zinc was the best treatment, but T₆ at 0.10% zinc caused a yield decrease because of zinc toxicity. Similarly, 1238.6 kg/ha (Zn 0.04%) was determined to be the maximum grain yield (Singh and Bhatt 2013).The harvest index falls between 37.96 and 40.62. At T₄ (50% RDF + Zinc @ 0.06%), the highest was 40.62, whereas at T₀ (actual control), the minimum was 37.96.

The study shows that applying zinc topically to lentil plants improves their nutritional content, yield characteristics and a number of growth metrics. In the end, the foliar application of zinc particularly at a concentration of 0.08% significantly enhances the development, production and nutritional quality of lentils, indicating that it is a useful and economical technique for lentil cultivation in the area under study.

There is no conflict of interest in manuscript and manuscript had not submitted to other journal.