Rice is a self pollinated, short day plant belonging to the family Gramineae and it is the cereal crop with the second highest worldwide production. Rice is the dominant staple food for more than half of the world's population [16]. Primarily, it is grown in more than 100 countries of Asia. But the productivity of rice is low in India as compared to other asian countries. Declining land productivity with negative nutrient balance is the main concerns against the food security problems in the country. Fertilization is one of the most important notable measures that help to increase agricultural production. So, application of adequate amount of mineral nutrients like N, Zn and Fe to crop is one of the important factors in achieving higher productivity. Modern rice varieties obviously require higher amount of nutrients to give higher crop yields. So, it is necessary for improving the efficiency of applied fertilizers, which depends on adequate availability of most essential plant nutrients in a balanced proportion throughout the crop growth period. In recent year's use of fertilizers coupled with intensive cropping have accelerated the exhaustion of micronutrient reserves of soils. It has, thus, become imperative to use the matching doses of required NPK and micronutrients. Nutrient deficiency is another one of the important yield limiting factors includes delayed sowing, intensive cultivation and imbalance and non-judicious fertilizers use. Nitrogen fertilization plays a great role in increasing rice production. Nitrogen is one of the most mobile plant nutrients in the soil. Management of nitrogen is essential for aerobic culture of rice because nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) should be in the range of 40-60 per cent. Application of nitrogen at right time is perhaps the simplest agronomic solution for improving the nitrogen use efficiency. Zn is also known to have an important role either as a metal component of enzymes or as a functional, structural or regulatory co-factor of a large number of enzymes [6]. Major factors which influence the zinc content in soil are pH, carbonate content, organic matter, soil texture and interaction between zinc and other microelements, such as iron. Zinc is important to membrane integrity and phytochrome activities [13]. Zinc is essential for the normal healthy growth and reproduction of plants and plays a key role as a structural constituent or regulatory co-factor of enzymes in many biochemical pathways. Less mobile nutrients (e.g. iron and zinc) low availability in new leaf tissues and shoot tips causing deficiency symptoms visible in the terminal younger part of the canopy. Iron is also one of the most essential elements but it's use is low and also due to it's less mobility for plant. Among all the micronutrients, plants need iron more than other. Among micronutrients, Iron (Fe) is a cofactor for approximately 140 enzymes that catalyze unique biochemical reactions. Foliar fertilization, which has been developed in the last 60 years, does not totally replace soil fertilization on...

A field experiment was conducted at research farm of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during winter (rabi) seasons of 2015-16 and 2016-17 to study the effect of different varieties and clipping management on growth, productivity and nutrient uptake of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Variety DWRUB 52 produced significantly higher dry-matter, tiller count, grain yield, straw yield and nutrients uptake (N, P, K and Zn) than PL 807 and PL 426, while plant height of this variety was statistically similar with PL 807. Zn foliar spray at anthesis and early milk stage with clipping increased the plant height and dry matter of crop, while clipping alone reduced these growth parameters. Grain yield of control crop was statistically similar with both clipping stages viz. at 50 and 60 DAS. However, there was an increase of 5.7% in the grain yield when clipping was done at 50 DAS over no clipping. Clipping at 50 and 60 DAS along with Zn application brought about 13.1 and 8.5% increased the grain yield over control crop. Zn foliar application significantly increased the nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and zinc nutrients uptake by grain and straw of barley crop than control.

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