Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in farmer's field during June-September 2018 to study the effect of zinc, silicon along with organic manures on the growth, yield and nutrient uptake by bhendi in coastal sandy soil. The texture of the experimental soil was sandy and taxonomically classified as Typic Usticpsamments with initial soil characteristics (0–15 cm layer) of the experimental site were, pH 8.45 and EC 4.15 dS/m. The soil registered low organic carbon status of 2.30 g/kg, 145 kg/ha of alkaline KMnO4-N; 9.21 kg/ha of Olsen-P and 158 kg/ha of NH4OAc-K, respectively. The available DTPA extractable Zn content of 0.74 mg/kg and silicon content of 84.5 mg/kg in soil. The various treatments included were: T1-Control (RDF alone), T2-RDF+Composted coirpith (CCP) @ 12.5 t/ha, T3-RDF+ZnSO4@ 25 kg/ha+Silixol granules @ 20 kg/ha soil application (SA), T4-RDF+ZnSO4+Silixol granules foliar application (FA) @ 0.5% twice at pre-flowering (PFS) and flowering stage (FS), T5-RDF+CCP+ZnSO4 @ 25 kg/ha+Silixol granules @ 20 kg/ha (SA), T6-RDF+CCP+ZnSO4+Silixol granules (FA) and T7-RDF+CCP+ZnSO4+Silixol granules (SA+FA). The above treatments were arranged in a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications and tested with bhendi var. MBH 64 as test crop. The results of the study clearly showed that the yield benefit of the treatment application of RDF+ ZnSO4 @ 25 kg/ha+Silixol granules @ 20 kg/ha (T7) through soil and foliar application of ZnSO4+Silixol granules @ 0.5% twice along with recommended dose of NPK and composted coirpith @ 12.5 t/ha superior in increasing the growth, yield and nutrients uptake of bhendi.