Assessing the Impact of Zinc and Boron Supplementation on Oats Grown under Red and Lateritic Soil of West Bengal

Background: Avena sativa L. (common oat) is the most important among the cultivated oat belongs to the Poaceae family and is known as Jai or Javi in Indian subcontinent. It is important winter forage in many parts of the world and is grown as multipurpose crop for grain, pasture, forage or as a rotation crop. Methods: A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of Zinc Sulphate and Borax on growth, yield components, yield and economics of oats seed production in red and lateritic soil of West Bengal during rabi seasons of 2015-16 and 2016-17 at agricultural farm, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design having two factors each with four levels (Zinc Sulphate with 0, 15, 20 and 25 kg/ha as well as Borax with 0, 5, 10 and 15 kg/ha). Result: Pooled data over two years of experiments showed that soil application with Zinc Sulphate and Borax at various levels significantly influenced growth attributes (dry matter accumulation, leaf area index and crop growth rate), yield components (no. of panicles/m2, no. of filled grains/panicle and test weight), yield (seed yield, straw yield and biological yield) and economics of oats seed production. With increasing levels of ZnSO4 application, highest number of panicles/m2 (196.27), seed yield (3.00 t/ha), straw yield (6.94 t/ha) and biological yield (9.85 t/ha) were obtained at 25 kg/ha though these were at par with 20 kg ZnSO4 /ha. Higher number of filled grains/panicle (76.47), test weight (29.93 g), seed yield (2.95 t/ha), straw yield (6.70 t/ha) and biological yield (9.63 t/ha) were found with application of borax @ 10 kg/ha. The highest gross return, net return and return per rupee investment was achieved with application of ZnSO4 @ 20 kg/ha (₹ 1,17,257/ha, ₹ 68,997/ha and 2.65, respectively) which was significantly higher than both of 25 kg ZnSO4/ha (₹ 1,15,051/ha, ₹ 64,489/ha, and 2.52, respectively) and 15 kg ZnSO4/ha (₹ 1,05,198/ha, ₹ 59,240/ha and 2.44, respectively). Similarly, highest gross return, net return and return per rupee investment was obtained with application of borax @ 10 kg/ha (₹ 1,15,537/ha, ₹ 69,070/ha and 2.67, respectively). A significant interaction between Zinc Sulphate and borax was found towards seed yield, biological yield, gross return, net return and return per rupee investment in oats seed production. Use of ZnSO4 at 20 kg/ha and borax at 10 kg/ha conjunctively achieved highest seed yield (3.28 t/ha), biological yield (10.81 t/ha), gross return (₹ 1, 27, 530/ha), net return (₹78,760/ha) and return per rupee investment (₹3.78) in oats seed production.