Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar, Uttarakhand to find out the effect of different plant population and nutrient management practices on Quality Protein Maize (QPM) on 20 th February 2010 in factorial randomized block design replicated thrice with three plant densities viz., 66,666, 83,333 and 100000 plants ha -1 and five nutrient management practices viz., 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), 125 % RDF, 100 % recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) through inorganic + 25 % RDN through organic, 75 % RDN through inorganic + 25 % RDN through organic and 50 % RDN through inorganic + 50 % RDN through organic. The results revealed that leaf area index (LAI) and dry matter accumulation were significantly higher under high and low plant density, respectively. Low plant density (66,666 plants ha -1 ) also recorded significantly higher crop growth rate (2.85 g day-1 ) and net assimilation rate (10.81 g m 2 day -1 ) during 30-60 DAS. However, leaf area ratio (139.72 cm2 g -1 ) and relative growth rate (20.88 mg g -1 day -1 ) were more under higher plant density (1,00,000 plants ha -1 ) during 30-60 and 60-90 DAS, respectively. High plant density being at par with medium plant density produced maximum cob (99.76 q ha -1 ) and grain (69.90 q ha -1 ) yields. However, nutrient management practices consisting of either chemical fertilizers alone or with organic sources had non-significant effect on growth parameters and yields. High plant density gave the highest net return ( 42,960 ha -1 ) but among nutrient management practices, higher net return was with 125% RDF ( 42,952 ha -1 ).

Keywords: Quality protein maize, plant density, nutrient management, growth parameters.