Effect of row spacings and micronutrients on seed yield and quality of palak

The experiment was conducted in an open field during the Rabi seasons of 2020 and 2021 at the Vegetable Research Centre, College of Horticulture, BUAT, Banda, to study the effect of three row spacings and four micronutrient levels on the seed yield and quality of palak. The experiment was laid out in a FRBD with two factors, viz., row-spacings (S) and micronutrient applications (M). The first factor had three row-spacings 30 × 10 (S1), 40 × 10 (S2) and 50 × 10 (S3) whereas, the second factor had four micronutrient levels Control (M0), Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate at 20 kg/ha (M1), Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate (20 % B) at 20 kg/ha (M2) and equal quantity of each Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate, Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate with a commercial formulation at 10 kg/ha (M3) in a variety of ‘All Green’. Seeds were sown on November 19, 2020 and all micronutrients were applied through soil at 40 DAS. Results indicated that S3 recorded maximum values for plant height, number of leaves/plant, dry weight of plants, 50 % of flowering (DAS), number of spikes per plant, spike length, spikelet length, hundred seed weight, seedling shoot length, seedling root length, a total length of seedling, seedling dry weight, seedling vigour index-I (SVI-I) and seedling vigour index II (SVI-II). Maximum seed yield was found in the closest row-spacing (S1). Germination percentage was noted in S2 and S3, which was significantly higher than that in S1. Among the micronutrients, M2 registered maximum values for most of the crop growth and seed yield traits. In view of high seed yield and quality traits simultaneously, promising treatment combinations were S2M1, S2M2 and S3M3.