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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2026)

Productivity of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) cultivars as influenced by zinc and iron fertilisation under rainfed conditions

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.13503
Submitted
2 January 2026
Published
29-05-2026

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the kharif 2024 at the Research Farm of Advanced Centre for Rainfed Agriculture (ACRA), Rakh Dhiansar of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu to study the influence of zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) application on the productivity of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) cultivars under rainfed agro-ecosystem. The experiment was laid out in a Factorial randomised block design (FRBD) and replicated thrice, comprising 14 treatment combinations of two pearl millet cultivars and 7 nutrient doses. The experimental results revealed that among the pearl millet cultivars, HHB 299 was significantly superior to Pusa 1201, in terms of growth, nutrient uptake, yield and yield attributes except for plant height (PH) and length of ear head. However, among the nutrient doses, significantly the highest growth, nutrient uptake, yield and yield attributes were obtained in treatment T7. Moreover, the interaction between pearl millet cultivars and nutrient doses was significant, with HHB 299 showing the highest values when combined with T7, while Pusa 1201 showed the lowest values when combined with T1. Hence, treatment T7, which is the soil application of 25 kg ha-1 zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) + soil application of 20 kg ha-1  ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) along with foliar application of 0.5 % ZnSO4 + foliar application of 0.5 % FeSO4 at 45 DAS in HHB 299 cultivar, proved to be an effective strategy in enhancing growth and yield of pearl millet under rainfed conditions.

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