Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(12): 2312-2323 2312 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.912.274 Effect of Phosphorus, Zinc and Iron Levels on Growth and Yield of Kharif Maize (Zea mays L.) Manoj Pal Thakur * , Joy Dawson and Tarun Thakur Department of Agronomy, Naini Agricultural Institute, SHUATS, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most important food crop after rice and wheat. It is a versatile emerging crop having wider adaptability to various Agro-climatic conditions. Globally maize occupies an area of 174.2 m ha with a production of 852 m t and productivity of 4890 kg/ha. In India, it occupies an area of 9.42 m ha with a production of 22.26 m t and an average productivity of 2583 kg/ha. In Karnataka, maize occupies an area of 1.38 m ha, with a production of 4.00 m t and average productivity of 2883 kg/ha. In India, maize is cultivated in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh (Anon., 2014). In addition to high demand for macronutrients, micronutrients are required in relatively very small quantities for adequate plant growth and production, micronutrient deficiency may cause great disturbance in the physiological and metabolic processes involved in the plant. The application of micronutrient fertilizers as basal dose may not be reaching the crop requirement for root growth and nutrient use. The alternative approach is to apply these micronutrients through foliar sprays. Foliar application is the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 12 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com A Field experiment was conducted during kharif season 2019-2020 at Crop Research Farm Department of Agronomy, SHUATS, Prayagraj, UP. To study the “Effect of Phosphorous, Zinc and Iron levels on growth and yield of kharif maize (Zea mays L.)”. The experiment was laid out in Randomized block design with three replication and 9 treatments out of these application of Phosphorous 60 kg/ha + zinc 25 kg/ha + Fe 25 kg/ha in treatment 9 given maximum plant height (199.03cm), No. of leaves (12.73), Plant dry weight (176.23 g), No. of cob/plant (1.84), Cob length (20.14cm), No. of Grain row/cob (17.10), No. of grain/row (24.13), No. of grain/cob (412.73), Test weight (318.0g), Grain yield (2.77t/ha), Straw yield (5.23 t/ha), Harvest index (34.66%) and the same trend is follow on economic of the experiment i.e. the treatment 9 recorded maximum Gross return of Rs. 88330/ha, Net return Rs. 38632/ha and B:C 1.78. However, the treatment 8 (P 60 kg/ha + zinc 25 kg/ha + Fe 20 kg/ha) have the maximum CGR (14.56 g/m2 /day) and RGR (0.010 g/g/day). Keywords Kharif maize, Phosphorous, Zinc, Iron, growth, yield and economics Accepted: 16 November 2020 Available Online: 10 December 2020 Article Info