STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ZINC ON YIELD ATTRIBUTES, YIELD AND ECONOMICS OF RICE

Zinc is one of the micronutrients that is essential for plants' proper growth and development.The study examined the impact of zinc fertilizer on rice variety ADT-43 at Annamalai University's Experimental Farm in Tamil Nadu, India, in order to ascertain the impact of varying zinc levels on rice yield and economic viability during the Kuruvai season (June-September, 2023).The experiment was carried out with 10 treatments consist of varying levels of zinc and replicated thrice in Randomised Block Design (RBD).The experiment revealed that grain, straw yield and economics was significantly enhanced by the addition of different zinc, inorganics and their combinations over control.The application of 100% RDF + Soil application of Zn-EDTA @ 5kg ha -1 + Foliar spray of nano Zn @ 0.2% resulted in significantly higher value for yield attributes (number of panicles m -2 , number of filled grains panicle -1 , panicle length), yield and economic returns.Based on the study, it is concluded that the Zinc and inorganic fertilization were found to be effective amendments for increasing soil fertility and crop productivity.