Physiological approaches to improve productivity of <em>Rabi </em>sorghum (<em>Sorghum bicolor</em> L<em>. </em>Moench) through foliar nutrition

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station (ARS) Bheemarayanagudi, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka during Rabi -2018, to study the influence of foliar spray of nutrients and PGRs on growth and yield of Rabi sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) variety M 35-1. The experiment was laid out in RCBD and was replicated thrice. There were twenty treatments consisting of primary (2%), secondary (0.5%), micronutrients (0.1%), salicylic acid (200 ppm) and cycocel (4000 ppm) alone or in combination. Foliar spray treatments viz., CCC and SA were imposed at 40 and 50 DAS, respectively. The foliar spray of essential nutrients were imposed twice at 60 and 80 DAS. Foliar spray treatment T19 (Primary nutrients@ 2%+ Secondary nutrients @ 0.5%+ Micronutrients @0.1%+ SA @200ppm + CCC@400ppm) recorded the significant improvement grain yield (1996.5 kg ha -1 )over control (1,376 kg ha -1 ). The significant increase in the seed yield with combination of nutrients and PGRs (T19) may be due to the improvement in the yield traits namely ear length, ear weight, seeds per ear and test weight, which were largely depends on the growth parameters like plant height, leaf area and total dry matter accumulation and its partition into leaf, stem, and ear. Thus, improvement in the yield seems to be due to timely supply of essential nutrients and PGRs