EFFECT OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF ZINC APPLICATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SPRING RICE (HARDINATH-1) IN BANKE, NEPAL

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different methods of zinc application on yield and yield-attributing characters of rice at the Agriculture Knowledge Center, Banke, under the supervision of AFU and PMAMP from March to July using the Hardinath-1 variety of rice. Different amounts and application methods of Zinc were used as treatments, namely control using only the recommended dose of NPK (T1), soil application of 15 kg/ha ZnSO4 after transplanting (T2), seedling dipping with 7.5 kg/ha ZnSO4 by making solution (T3), foliar spray of 7.5 kg/ha ZnsO4 (T4), and soil application followed by foliar spray of 15 kg/ha (T5) using a RCBD design with four replications each. T5 produced the greatest plant height (98.43 cm), which was statistically significant to the treatment with zinc application to soil (95.90 cm). At 60 DAT, a significantly higher number of tillers were observed from T5, which is significantly different (17.30) from all other treatments except the second treatment at the 1% level of significance. Similarly, T5 had the longest panicle length (22.57 cm), while the control had the shortest panicle length (21.945 cm). The highest number of filled grains per panicle was obtained from the T5 (89%). From field experiments with different treatments, the highest TGW was obtained from T5 (22.89 g), which is a statistically significant attribute with an F value of 0.001. Thus, it can be concluded that soil application of zinc during transplanting followed by foliar spray at the flowering stage is the most appropriate method of zinc application for efficient production and economy.