Response of sweet corn hybrid to varying plant densities and nitrogen levels

An investigation on the “Response of sweet corn hybrid to varying plant densities and nitrogen levels” was conducted during kharif season, 2009 at Agricultural Research Institute, Hyderabad. The experiment was conducted on a clay loam soil of medium fertility with twelve treatment combinations including three levels of plant densities 66,666 (P1), 80,000 (P2), 100,000 (P3) plants ha-1 and four nitrogen levels 120 (N1), 160 (N2), 200 (N3), 240 (N4) kg ha-1 in a randomized block design (RCBD) with factorial concept in three replications. Plant density of 80,000 ha-1 gave a maximum green cob yield of 14,159 kg ha-1 while 100,000 ha-1 produced highest green fodder yield of 18,532 kg ha-1. Nitrogen uptake at harvest was maximum with 80,000 plants ha-1. Growth characters like plant height, leaf area index (LAI) and dry matter accumulation increased due to increased level of nitrogen application from 120 to 240 kg ha-1. All the yield attributes such as cob length, cob girth, fresh cob weight, number of kernels per cob and 100 kernel weight were maximized at 240 kg N ha-1 level. The treatment combination of P2N4 (80,000 plants ha-1 with application of 240 kg N ha-1) gave maximum cob yield (18,090 kg ha-1), net returns and B:C ratio (4.25) followed by P2N3. The results suggest for adoption of sweet corn hybrid with plant density of 80, 000 ha-1 along with the application of 240 kg N ha-1 in clay loam soils with low available status of nitrogen during ‘kharif’ season for obtaining higher yield, net returns and B:C ratio. Key words: Sweet corn, nitrogen, plant density.