PJB-2023-500
Response of maize to tillage operations and nitrogen levels grown under clay loam soil
Sanaullah
Abstract
Selection of suitable tillage and application of optimal nitrogen fertilizer are essential to achieve optimal efficiency in crop management. The present study was planned to find out the most economical level of nitrogen and best tillage application for maize crop in clay loam soil. For this, a field experiment was conducted at Faculty of Agricultural Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan during the year 2020-2021 in randomized complete block (RCB) Design. Mulch tillage (MT), deep tillage (DT), conventional tillage (CT), and zero tillage (ZT) were assigned in the main plot, while nitrogen (N0, N90, N120, N150, and N180 kg ha-1) was supplied in subplots. Results showed that in maize crop, DT and CT increased the plant height (216.00, 214.67), leaf per plant (14.54, 13.67), grain yield (7445, 8875), biological yield (19899, 19817) and harvest index (38.02, 45.83) of maize (P<0.05) compared to MT and ZT. The supply of N150 kg ha-1 resulted in (P<0.05) higher values for most of the plant characteristics during the years 2020 and 2021 compared to the results of N0, N90, N120, and N180. The interaction effect of tillage x level of N was significant (P<0.05) for many plant characteristics during the years 2020 and 2021, while, the differences between the results of 2020 and 2021 were non-significant. The deep tillage with 150 kg/ha nitrogen were best for obtaining good yield of maize crop. The cost-benefit ratio (BCR) calculated after the harvest of the maize crop showed that the highest BCR was recorded in 1.68 in zero tillage plots, applied with nitrogen @ 150 kg ha-1. Based on the presented data it is recommended that DT and CT along with N150 kg ha-1 may be used to gain high yield from under maize cropping system.
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