Effect of Nitrogen and Foliar Spray of Urea and Nano Urea on Growth and Yield of Rabi Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi 2022 at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, SHUATS, Prayagraj (U.P) to study the “Effect of nitrogen and foliar spray of urea and nano urea on growth and yield of rabi maize (Zea mays L.)”, to study treatments consisting of three levels of Nitrogen viz. 50% RDN, 75% RDN and 100% RDN and three foliar sprays of nano urea viz. 2000 ppm (2ml/L), 4000ppm (4ml/L), and foliar spray of urea viz.,  20000 ppm (2%). The soil of experimental plot was sandy loam in texture, nearly neutral in soil reaction (pH 7.1), low in organic carbon (0.28 %), available N (225 kg/ha), available P (19.50 kg/ha) and available K (92 kg/ha). There were 10 treatments each being replicated thrice and laid out in Randomized Block Design. The results revealed that at 60 DAS, treatment combination 100% RDN + 4000 PPM (4ml/L) spray of Nano Urea recorded significantly higher Plant Height (108.10cm), Plant Dry weight (61.20 g), Crop Growth Rate (14.67 g/m2/day), number of cobs per plant (1.60), number of grains per cob (249.67), Seed index (23.55 g), Grain yield (6.41 t/ha), Stover yield (8.65 t/ha) and Harvest Index (42.58 %) as compared to other treatments.