Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at National Seed Project, Bangalore, to study the effect of nutrient levels viz.,100 per cent RDF as a straight fertilizer, 100 per cent RDF in the form of DAP and MOP, 125 per cent N and P, 150 per cent N and P in combination with three levels of time of nitrogen application (40% N @ Basal + 60% N @ tasseling), (40% N @ Basal + 30% N @ 8 leaf stage + 30% N @ tasseling) and (40% N @ Basal + 30% N @ 8 leaf stage + 25% N @ tasseling + 5% N @ seed filling stage) on crop growth and seed yield of maize hybrid Hema. Among the fertilizer levels, application of 125 per cent N and P (187.593.7540 NPK kg ha-1+ ZnSO410 kg ha- 1) gave significantly higher growth parameters like plant height, number of leaves and number of green leaves at harvest and yield parameters like number of cobs per plant, cob weight, cob length, cob diameter, seed yield per plant, seed yield per plot, bulk seed yield and graded seed yield compared to all other fertilizer levels. Among the time of applications the application of N at four splits (40% @ Basal + 30 % @ 8 leaf stage + 25% @ tasseling + 5% @ seed filling stage) (N3) showed significant increase in plant height, number of leaves, number of green leaves at harvest, number of cobs per plant, cob weight, cob length, cob diameter, seed yield per plant, seed yield per plot, bulk seed yield and graded seed yield. This clearly indicates that maize responds to application of nitrogen even at seed filling stage thereby the seed yield can be enhanced by 15-16 % in seed production plots.

Keywords: Maize, Fertilizers, Time of application, Growth, Yield