Late-sown Lentil Performance in Response to Foliar Application of Zinc

Highest and lowest plant height at harvest was recorded with application of 0.08% Zn and in control treatment, respectively. Longest and shortest roots were recorded in the plots treated with 0.08% Zn and control respectively. Zn treatment of 0.04% produced maximum lentil seed whereas lowest was recorded under control. India is world largest homeland of vegetarian population and world leader in pulses production and import to provide protean supplements (Ali and Gupta 2012). Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is one of the most nutritious cool season food legumes and ranks next only to chickpea. It is one of the prominent sources of vegetable protein in the Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP) region, essentially grown as a rainfed crop on the residual soil moisture of preceding crop (rice in general) (Ali et al. 2012 and Joshi 1998). Zn deficiency is wide spread and very common in IGP, in the rice growing tract in general and rice-wheat and rice-lentil cropping system in particular (Joshi 1998 and Ali et al. 2012). Role of zinc is as multifaceted as the interface that reduces its availability. Physiologically its role in a plant is either as a metal constituent in an enzymes or as a functional co-factor of number of enzymes reactions. In general zinc deficient plant show signs of low levels of auxins such as IAA. It is required for synthesis of IAA (Guilfoyle and Hagen 2001 and Liscum and Reed 2002). After flowering, high concentration of zinc in plant will enhance cell differentiation. Zinc plays a greater role during reproductive phase especially during fertilization. Remarkably pollen grain contains zinc in very high quantity. At the time of fertilization most of zinc is diverted to seed only (Jenik and Barton 2005, Pandey and Gautam 2009 and Reid et al. 2011). Foregone discussion outlined the role and importance of zinc in lentil crop production particularly under late sown conditions. This field experiment was undertaken, keeping in view the importance of zinc especially during sensitive phase may boost the performance of late sown lentil in the IGP region of India; with an objective to improve the lentil productivity and production by foliar supplementing of zinc to correlate and validate critical phase. To evolve zinc management scheme, a field experiment was conducted at ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region Patna during 2008-09 and 2009-10 in randomized block design (RBD) and replicated thrice. The experimental plot size was 10.0 m × 5.0 m. The experiment consist of 4 treatments (concentration levels) of Zn, namely (control) Zn1 (0.0%), Zn2 (0.02%), Zn3 (0.04%), Zn4 (0.08%). Foliar applications were carried out at pre-flowering and post podding stages. Every time, light irrigations were provided two days before the treatment applied. The chosen agrochemical was none other than commercial grade zinc sulphate (Zn SO4.7H2O) which contains 21% Zn (active ingredient). Long duration (145 to 155 days) genotype Swarna Mansoori “MTU7029” was chosen for rice crop. Tested lentil genotype was Pant Lentil 406 (PL-406), recommended for North and Eastern zone i.e. Indian IGP, where this field experiment was *Author for correspondence: .