The Impact of Zinc Nutrition on Weed Competitiveness in Rice

The experiment was conducted at the Integrated Farming System Research Station, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, India, during the Kharif Season 2022-2023 to study the influence of different zinc nutrition treatments on weed competitiveness in rice. The treatments were T1- Soil application of ZnSO4 at 20 kg ha-1 T2- Nutri priming with Nano Zn at 0.05% T3- Nutri priming with Nano Zn at 0.05% + Foliar spray with Nano Zn at 0.05% at maximum tillering stage T4-Nutri priming with ZnSO4 at 0.5% T5- Nutri priming with ZnSO4 at 0.5% + Foliar spray with Nano Zn at 0.05% at maximum tillering stage T6- Foliar spray with Nano Zn at 0.05% at maximum tillering stage and panicle initiation stage T7- Foliar spray withZnSO4 at 0.5% at maximum tillering stage and panicle initiation stage T8- Control (Recommended dose of nutrients without application of P and Zn). The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications. The predominant weed flora was grasses. The highest weed smothering efficiency was recorded in T3 and T2 at 20 days after transplanting (DAT) and 40 DAT. The lowest weed persistence index was recorded in T3. It can be concluded that Nutri priming with Nano Zn at 0.05%, followed by foliar spray with Nano Zn at 0.05% at the maximum tillering stage, enhanced the weed competitiveness in rice.