Abstract

Field experiment was conducted at the Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during kharif 2010 to study the influence of iron nutrition and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) inoculation on yield attributes, yield and economics of hybrid maize in calcareous soil. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications. The treatments included were arbuscular mycorrhiza (M + ) and control (M - ) under factor ‘A’ and soil application of 25 kg and 50 kg FeSO 4 ha -1 , Foliar spray of FeSO 4 ,0.5% and combination of soil application and foliar spray and Control, under factor ‘B’. The results revealed that among the iron treatments, 50 kg FeSO4 + 0.5% FeSO 4 foliar spray recorded better yield attributes and higher grain yield. It was comparable with 25 kg FeSO 4 + 0.5% FeSO 4 foliar spray which was economically profitable. Regarding the mycorrhizal treatments, AM inoculated plants recorded better yield attributes and grain yield. Among the treatment combinations, 25 kg FeSO 4 + 0.5% FeSO 4 foliar spray along with AM recorded better yield attributes and higher grain yield, net return and B: C ratio (2.16)

Keywords: Hybrid maize, mycorrhiza, iron, yield attributes, yield, economics.