Evaluation of Best Dose of Micronutrients ( Zinc , Iron and Boron ) to Combat Malnutrition in Brinjal ( Solanum melongena L . )

B (Solanum melongena L.) also called as Egg plant is one of the most important vegetable of Pakistan. It is also grown in Japan, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia and Italy. It belongs to family solanaceae. It contains phosphorus, different vitamins particularly B-complex. Bringal is considered as rich source of fiber and help in regulating the level of sugar in blood. The phenolics present in eggplant inhibit the enzymes involved with type 2 diabetes (Kumar and Sodh, 2015). Proper nutrition of plants is vital for increased yield and better quality of bringal. There is a dare need to adopt balanced use of both macro and micronutrients as micronutrient play vital role in different metabolic processes in plants. If nutrients are not applied to plants adequately ultimately the plants will go under stress with concomitant decrease in yield (Fageria, 2009). In our country we are getting very low yield of vegetables because of imbalanced use of fertilizers. As we are using only macronutrients (NPK) to vegetables but the use of micronutrients (Zn, Fe and B) is meager. Sankaran et al. (2005) also reported decline in yield of different vegetable due to imbalance use of fertilizers. This study was conducted with the objectives to evaluate the best dose of Abstract | The study was carried out in the farmer’s fields of Bahawalpur during Kharif-2018 and Kharif-2019 to examine the impact of different doses of micronutrients (Zn, Fe and Boron) on the yield and quality of brinjal. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Five different levels of micronutrients were applied. The treatment T5 i.e. (100-60-50)+ Borax (0.2) + ZnSO4 (0.5%)+FeSO4 (0.5%) exhibited maximum plant height, fruit weight, total yield, number of fuits plant-1 and survival percentage except number of leaves plant-1 which were maximum in T4 i.e. (100-60-50)+ ZnSO4 0.5%. Concludingly, growth parameters of all the theree cultivars of egg plant showed maximum performance i.e plant height (88.57, 139.77 and 135.11 cm), fruit weight (213, 284 and 261 g), yield (10.11, 11.98 and 12.39 t ha-1), survival percentage (95.71, 99.63 and 90.23%) and number of fruits per plant (9.81, 8.67 and 8.11) due to T5 in black boy, twinkle star and shamli varieties, respectively. Hence, Borax (0.2) + ZnSO4 (0.5%)+FeSO4 (0.5%) kg ha-1 is recommended as best dose of micronutrient for brinjal. Zafar Abbas1*, Shahzada Munawar Mehdi2, Muhammad Nasir3, Muhammad Ashraf4, Salma Kausar5, Nadeem Iqbal6, Muhammad Zahid Khan Nazar7, Iftikhar Ahmad3, Ghulam Murtaza1 and Ijaz Ahmad8


Introduction
B rinjal (Solanum melongena L.) also called as Egg plant is one of the most important vegetable of Pakistan. It is also grown in Japan, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia and Italy. It belongs to family solanaceae. It contains phosphorus, different vitamins particularly B-complex. Bringal is considered as rich source of fiber and help in regulating the level of sugar in blood. The phenolics present in eggplant inhibit the enzymes involved with type 2 diabetes (Kumar and Sodh, 2015). Proper nutrition of plants is vital for increased yield and better quality of bringal. There is a dare need to adopt balanced use of both macro and micronutrients as micronutrient play vital role in different metabolic processes in plants. If nutrients are not applied to plants adequately ultimately the plants will go under stress with concomitant decrease in yield (Fageria, 2009). In our country we are getting very low yield of vegetables because of imbalanced use of fertilizers. As we are using only macronutrients (NPK) to vegetables but the use of micronutrients (Zn, Fe and B) is meager. Sankaran et al. (2005) also reported decline in yield of different vegetable due to imbalance use of fertilizers. This study was conducted with the objectives to evaluate the best dose of Abstract | The study was carried out in the farmer's fields of Bahawalpur during Kharif-2018 and Kharif-2019 to examine the impact of different doses of micronutrients (Zn, Fe and Boron) on the yield and quality of brinjal. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Five different levels of micronutrients were applied. The treatment T 5 i.e. (100-60-50)+ Borax (0.2) + ZnSO4 (0.5%)+FeSO 4 (0.5%) exhibited maximum plant height, fruit weight, total yield, number of fuits plant -1 and survival percentage except number of leaves plant -1 which were maximum in T 4 i.e. (100-60-50)+ ZnSO4 0.5%. Concludingly, growth parameters of all the theree cultivars of egg plant showed maximum performance i.e plant height (88.57, 139.77 and 135.11 cm), fruit weight (213, 284 and 261 g), yield (10.11, 11.98 and 12.39 t ha -1 ), survival percentage (95.71, 99.63 and 90.23%) and number of fruits per plant (9.81, 8.67 and 8.11) due to T 5 in black boy, twinkle star and shamli varieties, respectively. Hence, Borax (0.2) + ZnSO 4 (0.5%)+FeSO 4 (0.5%) kg ha -1 is recommended as best dose of micronutrient for brinjal. fertilizers to combat brinjal malnutrition.

Materials and Methods
The experiment "Evaluation of best dose of micronutrients (zinc iron and boron) for brinjal to combat malnutrition" was carried out in the farmer's fields of Bahawalpur during Kharif-2018 and Kharif-2019.

Soil sampling and analysis
The soil samples were taken from the experimental site prior to sowing of eggplant. The samples were analyzed to evaluate the status of the fertility of experimental sites. Soil texture was clay loam, pH was 7.9 the electrical conductivity (EC) was 0.21 dSm -1 , soil available K found to be 180 mg kg -1 and Available P was 8 mg kg -1 .
The Survival %age was computed by using the following formula.
The calculation of total yield (t ha -1 ) was done by below given formula:

Plant height (cm)
The yield data about the plant height of different cultivars of eggplant in response to different doses of micronutrients is given in Table 1. The statistical results revealed significant impact on the plant height of eggplant. The heighest height (88.75 cm) documented was in T 5 {Borax (0.2) + ZnSO 4 (0.5%)+FeSO 4 (0.5%)} lowest plant height was in control (65.31 cm) in Black boy cultivar. Correspondingly in Twinkle Star cultivar the minimum plant height (133.26 cm) was in control and maximum plant height (139.77 cm) was in T 5 . Similar trend was observed in Shamli cultivar, where the plant height was maximum was 135.11cm in T 5 .
It is evident that application of micronutrients resulted an increase in the in bringal plant height contrary to control treatment where decreased plant height was noticed. This enhancement in bringal plant height due to micronutrients is attributed towards increase in photosynthesis, formation of chlorophyll and metabolism of nitrogen which inturn increased the plant height. Thesse results are in agreement with the finding of (Kadari et al., 2015;Suganiya and Kumuthini, 2015;Pandav et al., 2016). Increased plant height might be due micronutrients application which acclerated the photosynthesis and formation of chlorophyll and increased auxin contents with concomitant increase in plant height (Gogoi et al., 2014).

Fruit weight (g)
The data regarding the weight of fruit of different varieties of eggplant is presented in Table 2. The statistical results exposed significant impact on fruit weight of eggplant. The heighest fruit weight 213g was experienced in T 5 {Borax (0.2) + ZnSO 4 (0.5 %) + FeSO 4 (0.5 %)} in contrast to control where it was163g in Black boy cultivar. Similarly in case of cultivar Twinkle Star the minimum fruit weght (185g) was in control and maximum fruit weight (284 g) was in T 5 (Table 2). Similar trend was observed in Shamli cultivar, whre it was highest (261g) in T 5 Fruit weight results considerably influenced by different doses of micronutrients. These findings are parallel to those reported by Dubey et al. (2013) who reported increase in fruit weight to micronutrients application.

Total yield (t ha -1 )
The data regarding the total yield of different cultivars of eggplant in response to different doses of micronutrients is given in Table 3. The statistical results exposed significant impact on total yield of eggplant. The heighest total yield (10.11 t ha -1 ) was noticed in T 5 {Borax (0.2) + ZnSO 4 (0.5 %) + FeSO 4 (0.5 %)} lowest yield was in control (4.31t ha -1 ) in Black boy cultivar. Correspondingly in Twinkle Star cultivar the minimum total yield (3.78 t ha -1 ) was found in control and the highest total yield (11.98 t ha -1 ) observed was in T 5 . Likewise tendency was noticed in Shamli cultivar, where the yield was highest (12.39 t ha -1 ) in T 5 . Our results are in accordance with the finding of (Khedr et al., 2004) they experienced increase in bringal yield due to micronutrients application.

Survival percentage
The reorded data about the Survival %age of different cultivars of eggplant in response to different doses of micronutrients is given in

Number of leaves/plant
The data related to the number of leaves plant -1 of different cultivars of eggplant in response to different doses of micronutrients is given in Table 5. The results revealed significant effect of micronutrients on the number of leaves plant -1 of bringal. In Black Boy cultivar, the maximum number of leaves plant -1 were found in T 3 (FeSO 4 0.5 %) and T 5 {Borax (0.2 %) + ZnSO 4 (0.5 %) + FeSO 4 (0.5 %)} which were 305 and 283, respectively. Whereas the minimum number of leaves plant -1 (106) were found in T 1 (control treatment). The Twinkle Star cultivar exhibited the maximum number of leaves plant -1 in T 3 (357) and T 1 (352) which were not ststistically significant with each other. Conversely in T 4 maximum number of leaves plant -1 (405) were observed than control where the number of leaves plant -1 were 252 in bringal cultivar Shamli. The foliar application of different micronutrients resulted increase in the the nitrogen content of the leaves. Increase in number of leaves might be attributed toward promotive impacts of micronutrients on the vegetative growth which in turn resulted enhanced photosynthesis (Tawab et al., 2015). Gogoi et al. (2014) also reported parallel results.

Number of fruits plant -1
The number of fruits plant -1 data of various eggplant cultivars in response to different doses of micronutrients is given in Table 6. The results exhibited significant effect of micronutrients on number of fruits plant -1 of bringal. But in Black Boy cultivar, the maximum number of fruits plant -1 were found in T 3 (FeSO 4 0.5 %) and T 5 {Borax (0.2 %) + ZnSO 4 (0.5 %)+FeSO 4 (0.5%)} which were 9.41 and 9.81, respectively. minimum number of fruits plant -1 were noticed in T 1 (control). The twinkle star cultivar exhibited maximum number of fruits plant -1 in T 4 (8.25) and T 5 (8.29). On the other hand in T 3 (7.69), T 4 (7.88) and T 5 (6.860) statistically no significant difference was experienced in case of number of fruits perplant of bringal cultivar Shamli. Mohsin (2013) observed same increase in tomato yield due to iron and zinc application.

Novelty Statement
A vast gap between the actual yeld and yield potential of bringal due to insufficient supply of micronutreints is the major cause of bringal malnutrition. Hence, it is inevitable to apply micronutrients (Zn, Fe and Boron) alongwith micronutrients. Application of Borax (0.2 %) + ZnSO 4 (0.5 %) + FeSO 4 (0.5 %) is hereby proposed to combat bringal malnutrition and to plug in gap between actual yield and potential yield.

Author's Contribution
The plan of research was proposed by Muhammad Nasir and Nadeem Iqbal, Zafar Abbas, Ghulam Murtaza, Muhammad Zahid Khan Nazar, executed the research, Muhammad Ashraf, contributed in analysis, Salma Kausar, wrote the Abstract, Ijaz Ahmad and Muhammad Atif Ghafoor wrote Materials and Methods and Shahzada Munawar Mehdi, supervised the research work.