Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SOURCE OF N AND INSITU SOIL MOISTURE CONSERVATION PRACTICES FOR THE MAXIMIZATION OF MAIZE YIELD AND ECONOMIC RETURN

B. Kalaivani, M. Thiruppathi, R. Raman and N. Senthilkumar

Abstract

Field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2022 to find out the effect of different levels and sources of N and in situ soil moisture conservation practices for the maximization of yield attributes, yield and economics of Maize at farmer’s field, Solatharam village, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India which is situated between 11° 39 ‘ N latitude, 79° 50’ E longitude with an altitude of +5.79 m above mean sea level (MSL) in the southern part of India. The field experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The details of experiment was control (no mulch plot) (M1), hydrogel mulch (M2) and water hyacinth mulch (M3) were imposed. Whereas, in the sub plot, different levels and sources of nitrogen were applied at two levels viz., 100 and 125 % RDN in the combination of Prilled urea and Nano urea (1:0, 1:1, 2:1, 1:2 and 0:1). The nano urea were foliar sprayed at 20 and 40 DAS. The results indicated that mulching with water hyacinth @ 12 t/ ha registered significantly higher yield attributes, yield and economic returns than other mulching techniques. With regards to different nitrogen management techniques, application of 125% RDN via100% RDN as PU + 25% as NU exhibited higher yield parameters, yield and economic returns than other imposed N treatments. However, the conjoint application of water hyacinth mulch and application of 125% RDN via 100% RDN through prilled urea and 25% RDN through Nano urea significantly outperformed by registering maximum grain yield and economic returns over rest of the treatments.