International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Biotechnology Citation: IAEB: 14(2): 175-179, June 2021 DOI: 10.30954/0974-1712.02.2021.8 AGRONOMY How to cite this article: Peddapuli, M., Venkateswarlu, B., Prasad, P.V.N. and Rao Ch. S. 2021. Growth and Yield of Sweetcorn as Influenced by Zinc Fertilization. IJAEB, 14(2): 175-179. Source of Support: None; Conflict of Interest: None ASSOCIATION FOR AGRICULTURE ENVIRONMENT AND BIOTECHNOLOGY A A E B Growth and Yield of Sweetcorn as Influenced by Zinc Fertilization Monika Peddapuli 1* , B. Venkateswarlu 1 , P.V.N. Prasad 1 and Ch. Sujani Rao 2 1 Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College, Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh, India 2 Controller of Examinations, LAM, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India *Corresponding author: monikapeddapuli@gmail.com (ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3767-125X) Paper No. 895 Received: 08-03-2021 Revised: 27-05-2021 Accepted: 10-06-2021 ABSTRACT In order to investigate the efect of zinc nutrition on growth, yield, and quality parameters of sweetcorn, a feld experiment comprising of nine treatments with three replications was carried out in Randomised Block Design during Kharif, season 2020 on sandy clay soils of Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla. The analysis of variance showed a signifcant efect of zinc application on growth and yield parameters. The detailed results of the study showed that among the various zinc fortifcation treatments, RDF + Zn EDTA @ 10 kg ha -1 (Soil) + Nano ZnO @ 250 ppm at 20 & 40 DAS (Foliar spray) registered superior plant growth characters like plant height at harvest (214.4 cm) leaf area index at harvest (2.94) and dry mater accumulation at harvest (9903 kg ha -1 ). The yield parameters like no. of seed rows per cob (16.84), no. of seeds per row (32.57), green cob yield (12,638 kg ha -1 ), and green fodder yield (19,674 kg ha -1 ) were maximum with RDF + Zn EDTA @ 10 kg ha -1 (Soil) + Nano ZnO @ 250 ppm at 20 & 40 DAS (Foliar spray) which was signifcantly superior over rest of the treatments whereas lower growth and yield was noticed with RDF alone. HIGHLIGHTS m Soil application of Zn EDTA (10 kg ha -1 ) along with the two foliar sprays of nano zinc (250 ppm) at 20 and 40 DAS was found to be more efective in improving growth, yield atributes, cob yield of sweetcorn. Keywords: Zn EDTA, Nano ZnO, sweetcorn, green cob yield, leaf area index Maize also called corn, is the most important cereal grown worldwide, which belongs to the grass family Poaceae. It is commonly known as the `queen of cereals’ because of its high yield potential and its wide range of uses among diferent agro-industries. Intensive agriculture involving modern technologies with the introduction of high-yielding sweetcorn and the repeated use of high analysis fertilizers has fnally lead to a defciency of micronutrients, particularly zinc (Alloway 2004; Rakshit et al. 2015). Half of our Indian soils are deficient in zinc, resulting in lower yields of major food crops (Cakmak 2009), further afecting livestock health. Apart from livestock, human beings who consume the food grown in these zinc-defcient soils also sufer from zinc malnutrition. Zinc, with its prominent role in several physiological and enzymatic activities of the plant system, not only involves the conversion of carbohydrates, protein, and chlorophyll synthesis but also induces many catalytic functions of the plant (Wasim et al. 2016). Maize, with its sensitivity to zinc defciency in the soil, results in disorder called “White bud” (El-Azab 2015), manifested as white parallel bands between the midrib and margin of leaves. In order to conquer this imperfection and meet crop zinc demands, zinc fertilization seems to be the viable