Effect of Foliar Application of Zinc and Boron on Growth Attributes and Yield of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Varieties

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted on loamy sandy soil during the winter season at Agricultural Farm of Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India to evaluate the effect of foliar application of zinc and boron on growth attributes and yield of chickpea. In this experiment, 4 varieties of chickpea (Anuradha, ICPK, JSKB and RVSJ4-102) were applied with Zn and B ((Zinc 0.5%, Boron 0.1%, Zinc 0.5%+Boron 0.1% along with control) through foliar application at branching time and pre-flowering stage. The experiment findings revealed that the Variety RVSJ4-102 gave higher plant height (20.98cm), dry matter accumulation (114.49 g/m-2), leaf area index (1.27), chlorophyll content (2.25 mg/g fresh leaf) and yield (26.28 q/ha) of chickpea compared to other variety. However, foliar application of (zinc 0.5%+boron 0.1%) had significant effect in influencing the growth attributes and yield of chickpea followed by single application of zinc 0.5% and boron 0.1% as compared to control. Foliar application of (zinc 0.5%+boron 0.1%) produced 26.47 % higher seed yield than control.  This experiment suggested that the combined single foliar application of (zinc 0.5% + boron 0.1%) prove best treatment as compared to individual application of zinc 0.5% and boron 0.1%.