POTENTIAL OF FOLIAR APPLICATION OF MICRONUTRIENTS ON GROWTH, YIELD, QUALITY AND NUTRACEUTICAL PROPERTIES OF PEA (PISUM SATIVUM L.)

Nutrients management has prime importance in agricultural crops for imperative yield. Micronutrients, though needed in low amounts, are essential for different physiological processes, thus improve, growth, yield and nutritive value of food crops. Hence, current study aimed to evaluate the effect of foliar application of different micronutrients on two pea cultivars. Three micronutrients; zinc sulphate (ZnSO4), copper sulphate (Cu2SO4) and boric acid (H3BO3) were sprayed alone as well as in combinations, each at the level of 3 mg L-1. Meteor cultivar plants had taller plants, and had maximum number of leaves, while those of Pencil produced greater fresh and dry biomass, more number of branches, number of pods and number of seeds per pod, and higher pod fresh and dry weights and leaf chlorophyll content. However, quality traits did not differ between the cultivars. Plant height, fresh as well as dry plant biomass, number of branches as well as number of leaves/ plant were increased through foliar sprays of ZnSO4 + Cu2SO4 and ZnSO4 + H3BO3. Foliar sprays of ZnSO4 alone greatly increased the length pods as well as 100 seed weight. Plant height revealed significant association with all the studied growth as well as yield traits. Moisture content of seeds had significant relationship with all studied quality traits. Biplot analysis, a multivariate approach, confirmed the mean performance of genotypes as in mean tables and traits relationship as in trait association matrix. Conclusively, current study encourages the use of foliar spray of different micronutrients as mixture for attaining higher pea yields.