Response of Plant Spacing and Balanced Fertilization on Growth and Yield of Maize (Zea mays L.) in Red Laterite Zone of Purulia District of West Bengal

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra Kalyan, Purulia adopted village namely Jambad in Purulia District of West Bengal during kharif season of 2019. The experiment was laid out in nine strip plots with plot size of 48 sq m2. m including three different doses of Nutrients viz. N: P2O5:K2O - 120:60:60, 150:60:60 and 150:75:60 at densities comprising of 55,555 plants/ha (60 X 30 cm), 66,666 plants/ha (60 X 25 cm) and 83,333 plants/ ha (60 X 20 cm) by using of four row multi-crop planter with the objective of observing the effect of plant spacing on yield attributes and yield of maize hybrids. The yield attributing factor as cob length was determined and initially the yield was recorded for application of different doses of nutrients. In case of plant spacing with the optimum doses of nitrogen and phosphorus the only factor contributing to increase in grain yield per unit area was the number of plants grown in the area, so the maximum grain yield (7.5 t/ha) was obtained at (60 X 20 cm) spacing with application of nutrient doses of 150:75:60. Drastic reduction in grain yield occurred at wider plant spacing i.e. (60 X 30 cm). It was due to the reason that increase in cob length did not occur proportionately to the reduction in plant population.