Effect of integrated nutrient management practices on growth and development behaviour of hybrid maize in mid hills of Meghalaya
Influence of Integrated nutrient management on growth and development hybrid maize
Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the second important food crop after rice in Meghalaya. However, the productivity of this crop in this state is much below than the national average primarily due to very low or no application of external nutrient sources for this soil exhaustive crop. A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2011 on the experimental farm of the College of Post Graduate Studies (CAU–Imphal), Meghalaya to evaluate the effect of various integrated nutrient management (INM) practices on growth and developmental behaviour of HQPM 1, a hybrid cultivar of quality protein maize. The mean data recorded during incorporation of green manuring observed that comparatively higher amount of fresh and dry bio mass and also the three primary nutrients were added to maize field by recommended doses of fertilizers (RDF) treated plots followed by 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 treated plots. In situ cowpea green manuring in between the maize rows resulted in a positive response on plant height, CGR, RGR leaf area, and dry matter production ) though the difference for most of these parameters between green manured and non green manured treatment was at par. Among various combinations of farm yard manure (FYM) with RDF, treatments 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1, 50 % RDF + 7.5 t FYM ha-1, 100 % RDF ha-1 and 75 % RDF + 2.5 t FYM ha-1 recorded significantly superior values of all the above said growth parameters over 50 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 and control growth rate. Maximum number of leaves -1, leaf area and LAI was observed at 90 DAS. At harvest, dry weight recorded from 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 treated plots was 2.5, 15.3, 35.7, 52.5 and 94.4% more over the 100 % RDF, 50 % RDF + 7.5 t FYM ha-1, 75 % RDF + 2.5 t FYM ha-1, 50 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 and control, respectively. Significant difference in CGR at 30 – 60 and 60 – 90 DAS stage and in RGR at 90 DAS to harvest stage was observed due to various combinations of recommended dose of fertilizer with different doses of FYM. The number of days taken to attain the stages of 50% tasselling, silking and maturity did not difer due to green manuring however, treatment 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 took significantly lesser number of days for these stages than other combinations. Thus, superiority of the ttreatment 75 % RDF + 5 t FYM ha-1 indicated a possibility of substituting 25% of RDF with 5 t FYM ha-1 without any loss in dry matter production as reflected from the data on biological yields of the quality protein hybrid maize in mid hill ecosystems of Meghalaya.
