Effect of Biofortification with Zinc and Iron on Growth Parameters, Yield Attributes and Yield of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2021-2022 at Students' Instructional Farm (S.I.F.) of Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh to evaluate the effect of biofortification with zinc and iron on growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of Barley. The present experiment having 16 treatment combinations replicated thrice in factorial randomized block design. Barley variety Prakhar (K 1055) (K508/NDB1081) was grown with recommended agronomic practices. On the basis of the results emanated from present investigation, it could be concluded that application of 100% RDF + soil application of Zn @ 25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 + two foliar application of Fe (0.5%) significantly recorded maximum growth parameters such as plant height (102.00 cm) and number of effective tillers (302.00 m-2) and maximum yield attributing characters such as ear length (8.9 cm), number of grains spike-1 (50.75) and test weight (42.497 g). The result showed highest grain yield (59.55 q ha-1), straw yield (69.673 q ha-1), biological yield (129.22 q ha-1) and harvest index (46.08 %) with 100% RDF + soil application of Zn @ 25 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 + two foliar application of Fe (0.5%) in comparison to all the treatments during 2021-2022.