Maize (Zea mays) Yield Response to Application of Calcium, Magnesium and Boron on Acid Soil

Abstract

The study was carried out at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru with maize as the test crop. GKVK is located in the Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka situated at 12° 58’ north latitude and 77° 35’ east longitude at an altitude of 930 m above mean sea level, the mean annual rain fall is 950 mm. Field experiment was established using three levels of Ca (0, 200 & 400 kg ha_1), two levels of Mg (0 & 60 kg ha_1) and foliar spray of boron at two levels (0 & 0.5 %) combined to give 12 treatments. Results showed that the soil pH, exch.Ca, Mg and base saturation increased with levels of application of calcium and magnesium. While exch. Aluminium content decreased in the soil due to the combined application of Ca and Mg. The uptake of all the nutrients was increased by increasing the levels of application of the three nutrient elements. There was synergistic effect among them when either only two of them were applied together or when all the three of them were applied together. The different combinations of Ca-Mg-B significantly influenced the yield and yield components of maize. The highest were recorded from Ca, Mg and B at 400 kg, 60 kg and 550 g ha-1 respectively. The lowest was recorded in control plot (Ca0-Mg0-B0).