Effect of Different Levels of Nutrients and Dates of Sowing on Growth and Yield of Maize Crop (Zea mays L.)

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif season, 2015 at the Crop Research Farm, School of Forestry & Environment, SHIATS, Allahabad (U.P.) to find out the effect of different levels of nutrients and dates of sowing on growth and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) under Allahabad climatic condition. The experiment was lay out in factorial (3×4) Randomized Block Design with twelve treatments, replicated thrice. The results on to the different parameters was found significant, showed under treatment T3 (10 July sowing date+135 kg nitrogen, 90 kg phosphorus,45 kg potash). The maximum plant height (212.56 cm), number of cob plant-1 (2.00),cob length (25.66 cm), cob girth (12.66 cm), weight of grains cob-1 (82.10 g), number of grains row cob-1 (14.03), number of grains cob-1 (395.26), dry weight plant-1 (157.36 g) was recorded in treatment T3 [10 July DOS + 135 kg nitrogen ha-1, 90 kg phosphours ha-1 and 45 kg potash ha-1] (10 July DOS +150% NPK of Recomnded dose of fertilizer). The similar effect was also recorded in the yield and Yield attributes. Treatment T3 (DOS 10 July+ nitrogen 135 kg,phosphorus 90 kg, potash 45 kg ha-1) produced the maximum seed yield (57.33 q ha-1), stover yield (88.66 q ha-1), Test weight (222.00 g), Harvest index (39.26 %). Treatment T3 (DOS 10 July+ nitrogen 135 kg, phosphorus 90 kg, potash 45 kg ha-1) also recorded the highest gross return (97481 Rs ha-1), net return (61216.88 Rs ha-1) and benefit cost ratio (1.68).