Effect of zinc and iron enrichment through ferti-fortification on growth,yield and economics of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

MAHADEV  BHADAKE; N.   ANANDA; M. R.   UMESH; PANDIT   S RATHOD; S. N. BHAT

MAHADEV BHADAKE Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, RaichurUniversity of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur - 584 104, Karnataka, India
N. ANANDA Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, RaichurUniversity of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur - 584 104, Karnataka, India
M. R. UMESH Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, RaichurUniversity of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur - 584 104, Karnataka, India
PANDIT S RATHOD Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, RaichurUniversity of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur - 584 104, Karnataka, India
S. N. BHAT Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, RaichurUniversity of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur - 584 104, Karnataka, India

Keywords: Agronomic biofortification, Ferti-fortification, Iron enrichment, Sesame yield, Zinc

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during kharif 2021 at The Main Agricultural Research Station, RaichurKarnataka to study theeffect of zinc and iron enrichment through ferti-fortification in sesame. The results revealed that soilapplication of ZnSO4 @ 10 kg ha-1 + FeSO4 @ 10 kg ha-1 along with RDF and FYM recorded significantly higher plant heightand number of branches per plant when compared to other treatments. It also resulted in higher yield attributing characterslike number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per capsule and capsule weight per plant which resulted in 20.99 %increase in seed yield (801 kg ha-1) over control. Economic analysis revealed that significantly higher gross returns, netreturns and B:C was observed due to application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4 each at 10 kg ha-1 along with RDF + FYM. Thepresent investigation revealed that soil application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4 each at 10 kg ha-1 along with RDF and FYM wasfound effective in achieving higher yield and profitability of sesame production.