Author: Jiban ShresthaPublisher: Universal-Publishers
ISBN: 1612334407
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 133
Book Description
A field experiment was conducted at farmer’s field of Anandapur, Mangalpur VDC-3, Chitwan, Nepal during winter season from September 2006 to February 2007 to study the effects of nitrogen and plant population on maize. Fifteen treatment combinations consisting of five levels of nitrogen: 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg N/ha and three levels of plant population; 55555 plants/ha (60 cm × 30 cm spacing), 66666 plants/ha (60 cm × 25 cm spacing) and 83333 plants/ha (60 cm × 20 cm spacing) were tested in factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications. “Rampur Composite” variety of maize was planted on sandy silt loam and strongly acidic soil having medium in total nitrogen (0.123%), high in soil available phosphorous (77.56 kg/ha) and low in soil available potassium (23.25 kg/ha). The research findings revealed that each level of nitrogen significantly increased grain yield upto 200 kg N/ha. The grain yield (6514.48 kg/ha) obtained under 200 kg N/ha was significantly higher than that of 0, 50, 100 and 150 kg N/ha. The percent increment in yield due to application of 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg N/ha was to the extent of 62.11, 104.74, 135.68 and 154.74%, respectively over control. Significant effect on grain yield due to different levels of plant population was observed. The grain yield (5113.46 kg/ha) obtained under 66666 plants/ha was statistically at par with that under 83333 plants/ha, but significantly superior over that under 55555 plants/ha. The interaction between different nitrogen levels and plant densities on grain yield showed that the highest grain yield (6925.79 kg/ha) was obtained under treatment of 200 kg N/ha + 66666 plants/ha. The yield attributes namely number of cobs/plant, cob length, cob diameter, number of grain rows/cob and 1000 seed weight significantly increased with increasing N levels and decreasing plant population levels. The number of barren plants/ha decreased with increasing levels of N but increased with increasing levels of plant population. The net return (Rs. 42188.74/ha) and benefit:cost ratio (1.67) obtained under 200 kg N/ha were significantly highest than that obtained under other levels of nitrogen (150, 100, 50 and 0 kg N/ha). The plant population of 66666 plants/ha gave the highest net returns (Rs. 25812.28) which was 10.19 and 49.64% higher than that of 83333 plants/ha and 55555 plants/ha, respectively. The benefit: cost ratio (1.44) obtained under 66666 plants/ha was significantly higher than that of 55555 and 83333 plants/ha. The interaction between different nitrogen levels and plant densities on economics of maize production showed that significantly highest net return (Rs.48606.98) and B:C ratio (1.78) were under treatment of 200 kg N/ha + 66666 plants/ha. The highest grain yield and maximum profit were obtained when maize variety “Rampur Composite” was planted with 200 kg N/ha and plant population level of 66666 plants/ha (60 cm × 25 cm spacing).
