Growth of Maize in Response To In-situ Green Manuring

Abstract

A field study was conducted at College farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design consisting of eight treatments viz., T1: In-situ green manuring (GM) of Sunhemp at 45 DAS + 0 kg N ha-1 at tasseling (T) stage, T2: GM + 10 kg N ha-1 at T, T3: GM + 20 kg N ha-1 at T, T4: GM + 30 kg N ha-1 at T, T5: GM + 40 kg N ha-1 at T, T6: GM + 50 kg N ha-1 at T, T7: GM + 60 kg N ha-1 at T, T8: Farmer’s Practice (Application of RDF without green manuring) replicated thrice on clay loam soil to evaluate the effect of in-situ green manuring on the growth parameters such as plant height, leaf area, SPAD and dry matter of rabi maize and the proportion up to which it can compensate nitrogen application at tasseling stage through in-situ green manuring at 45 DAS and variable application of nitrogen split scheduled from 10 – 60 kg ha-1 at tasseling stage besides farmers practice. The results indicated that, at 30 and 60 DAS, plant height, leaf area, SPAD and dry matter content did not vary significantly as all the treatments received equal doses of recommended nitrogen @ 60 kg ha-1 at the time of sowing and 30 DAS. However, at 90 DAS and at harvest equivalent and higher plant height, leaf area, SPAD and dry matter values obtained in the treatments involving green manuring along with the variable application of nitrogen split in 30 (T4), 40 (T5), 50 (T6) and 60 (T7) kg ha-1 at tasseling stage. Furthermore, the study concludes that at tasseling stage, the crop can be compensated with in situ green manuring up to 30 kg ha-1 meeting the nitrogen needs of the crop.