Exceeding Potassium and Zinc Application Rate above Farmers Practiced Rate Improves Dry Matter Partitioning, Photosynthetic Attributes, Yield and Quality of Maize (Zea mays L.) under Dryland Condition

Aims: This field experiment was conducted to compare the combined application of different rates of potassium and zinc application against the standard farmers practised application rate based on dry matter distribution, net photosynthesis, transpiration rate, sub stomatal C02 concentration, stomatal conductance, grain yield and quality attributes (protein and carbohydrate content and yield).

Place and Duration of Study: This short-term field trial was conducted on the Agronomy Research Farm of Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Maharashtra, India on the Kharif (Post monsoon) season of 2016.

Methodology: The experiment was conducted in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with two factors i.e., potassium and zinc, each having three levels. The experiment was replicated thrice. The three potassium levels were 30, 60 and 90 kg K2O ha-1 while the zinc was applied 20, 30 and 40 kg ZnSO4.7H2O ha-1 as three distinctive levels. A short duration dwarf maize cultivar Ravi-81 was used for the experiment.

Results: Perusal of experiment results confirmed that potassium and zinc have positive interaction even in short duration crop under dryland condition. The higher dry matter accumulation, crop growth rate, photosynthetic attributes, yield, protein content, protein yield, and carbohydrate yield has been recorded with the application of potassium at a rate of 60 kg K2O ha-1 along with zinc application of 30 kg ZnSO4.7H2O ha-1 which has been found to be statistically superior over farmers adopted practice (30 kg K2O ha-1 along with zinc application of 20 kg ZnSO4.7H2O ha-1).

Conclusion: Combined application of potassium and zinc has positive interaction on each other, and the increased rate is needed to meet the demand for short duration high yielding maize crop for enhanced growth, yield and quality attributes.