Abstract
Management of zinc (Zn) in calcareous soils is a major problem for higher rice growth and yield. Need of time is to introduce environmentally friendly approach for the management of Zn. Inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF) is one of such efficacious technique for enhancing the availability of Zn in these soils. The present study investigated the effect of different Zn application methods i.e., seed coating (SC; 1.25 g Zn/kg seed), seed priming (SP; 0.5 M solution) and soil application (SA; 4 mg ZnSO4/kg soil) alone or in combination with AMF applied in completely randomized design (CRD) on morpho-physiological growth and productivity of rice. Results showed that Zn SA + AMF remained significantly the best treatment for the improvement in germination, plant height, spike length and number of spikes than control + AMF and control with no AMF. A significant enhancement in 1000 grains weight (71.11%), total chlorophyll (40.38%), photosynthetic rate (16.17%) and transpiration rate (41.48%) validated the efficacious role of Zn SA + AMF over control + AMF. Significant increase in rice grains N (25.68 and 40.11%), P (29.41 and 25.00%), K (42.86 and 47.37%) and Zn (10.42 and 59.03%) signified the imperative functioning of Zn SA + AMF and Zn SA over control + AMF and control without AMF respectively. In conclusion, Zn SA has the potential to improve the rice growth nutrients uptake. However, Zn SA + AMF is better to approach than the sole application of Zn SA for rice. More investigations at the field level under different soil textures are suggested to declare Zn SA + AMF as the best treatment for improvement in the productivity of rice.