MEENA SEWHAG, SHWETA, SURESH KUMAR, ROHTAS KUMAR, J. TOKAS, NEELAM, UMA DEVI AND SATPAL
Department of Agronomy, Department of Soil Science, Department of Biochemistry,
CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : meenasewhag@gmail.com)
(Received : 16 December 2020; Accepted : 27 March 2021)
SUMMARY
Nitrogen and phosphorus are the nutrient that most frequently limits yield and plays an important role in quality of forage crops. To investigate the effect of varying nitrogen and phosphorus levels on growth, yield and quality of spring fodder maize (Zea mays L.), a field study was conducted during spring 2019 at Agronomy Research Farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar located at 29°16’N latitude and 75°7’E longitude at an elevation of 215.2 m above the mean sea level in northwest part of India. The soil of the experimental field was sandy loam in texture, neutral in reaction, low in organic carbon and available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus and high in available potassium. The experiment was laid out in FRBD design with four nitrogen levels (0, 50, 75 and 100kg N/ha) and four phosphorus levels (0, 15, 30 and 45 kg P2O5/ha) replicated thrice. Overall results depicted that growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of fodder maize in spring season increased with the increase in nitrogen and phosphorus levels upto 100 kg N/ha and 45 kg P2O5/ha, respectively. With the application of nitrogen @ 50, 75 and 100 kg N/ha there was 27.86, 49.50 and 64.50 per cent increase, respectively, in green fodder yield over the control (no nitrogen). Application of increasing
level of nitrogen and phosphorus increased the soil available nitrogen and phosphorus status over control. Application of 100 kg N ha-1 and 45 kg P2O5/ha recorded highest crude protein (%) and crude protein yield of fodder maize, however, the crude protein recorded at 50, 75 and 100 kg N/ha was statistically at par with each other. Synergistic effect of N and P was observed on green fodder and dry matter yield.
Key words:Fodder maize, green fodder yield, nitrogen, phosphorus and spring season