Effect of crop-establishment methods and nitrogen levels on productivity and profitability of maize (Zea mays) in semi-arid region of Afghanistan

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Afghanistan National Agricultural Sciences and Technology University (ANASTU), Kandahar, during the rainy (kharif) season (AprilAugust) of 2015, to study the yield and profitability responses of maize (Zea mays L.) to different crop-establishment methods and nitrogen (N) levels in semi-arid re- gion of Afghanistan. The treatments consisted of 3 crop-establishment methods, viz. broadcast, line sowing and ridge sowing, allotted to main plots and 4 N levels, viz. 0, 120, 160, 200 kg N/ha, in subplots. The experiment was conducted in a three-time replicated split plot. The results revealed that crop-establishment methods did not influ- enced yield attributes like number of cobs/plant, cob length, cob girth, rows/cob, grains/row significantly; however numerically higher magnitude of these yield attributes was observed under ridge planting. Moreover, ridge plant- ing recorded significantly higher number of grains/cob (390.1) and 1,000-grain weight (272.6 g), which finally re- sulted in significantly higher grain yield (6.30 t/ha). Owing to higher yield, Net returns and benefit: cost ratio were also higher with ridge planting. Among the N levels, an application of 200 kg N/ha resulted in the maximum values of all yield attributes, which led to significantly higher grain yield (5.77 t/ha) and benefit: cost ratio (2.43) compared to all other N-levels.