Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Yield, Economics and Post-harvest Soil Properties of Sweet Corn Grown under Mid-Central Table Land Zone of Odisha

Abstract

Sweet corn (Zea mays var. saccharata), popularly known as sugar corn or pole corn is a specialty maize having high sugar content at milk or early dough stage. As the corn is considered as an exhaustive crop, requires more nutrient, so integrated nutrient management practices play an important role in sustaining productivity of sweet corn. A field experiment was conducted during 2019 and 2020 in order to study the effect of integrated nutrient management on sweet corn yield and post harvest soil properties. Different growth parameters like plant height (206 cm), cob length (28.5 cm), cob girth (16.43 cm), no of seed rows per cob (18.80), no of grains per row (47.55)  and green cob  wt. (335.43g) were found highest in integrated package where bio fertilizer consortia, B and Zn  were applied along with STD fertilization (T6). Total harvested yield of sweet corn including stover (2.58 to 2.98 t ha-1) and kernel (1.33 to 2.37t ha-1) varied from 3.91 to 5.35 t ha-1 in different treatments and was observed highest in T6 (5.35 t ha-1). Harvest index (44.29%), B: C ratio (3.15) and 1000 kernel weight (198.90 g) was also recorded highest in treatment T6. The post- harvest soil properties were also recorded highest in T6 where bio fertilizer consortia, B and Zn were applied along with STD fertilization in the INM package.