Effect of different tillage practices on growth and yield of autumn planted maize
2015
Mujtaba, A.
A field study was carried out to check the influence of various tillage practices on the growth and yield of autumn planted maize at the Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design (RCBD). The experiment comprised of four replications with a net plot size of 7.0 m x 3.6 m. Different tillage practices (deep tillage, conventional tillage, minimum tillage, simple cultivation flat sowing, simple cultivation ridge sowing, zero tillage dibbling and zero tillage drill) were performed as treatments. The maize hybrid Monsanto DK-919 was used as experimental material. The crop was sown during autumn on 15th August, 2014. Least significant difference (LSD) test at 5% probability level was applied to compare the treatment means. Data showed that tillage practices and sowing methods had a significant effect on leaf area index, crop growth rate, plant height, plant population, stem diameter, 1000-grain weight, number of grains cob-1, biological yield and grain yield of maize. Maize hybrid sown under deep tillage produced highest grain yield (7.2 t per ha), number of grains cob-1 (528), 1000-grain weight (265 g), plant height (205 cm), plant population (7.2 plants m-2) and stem diameter (1.58 cm). However non-significant effect of tillage practices was observed on number of cobs per plant, days to 50% tasseling and time to 50% silking. Economically, maize sown in deep tillage gave maximum net income of Rs. 99753 per ha with BCR (1.74) whereas minimum net income of Rs.13703 per ha with BCR (1.12) where zero tillage drilling system adopted.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by National Agricultural Research Centre