EVALUATION OF FLOWERING, PHYSIOLOGICAL MATURITY AND GRAIN YIELD OF MAIZE UNDER DIFFERENT LEVELS OF NITROGEN AND PLANT POPULATION
JIBAN SHRESTHA *
Nepal Agricultural Research Council, National Maize Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
An experiment was carried out at Mangalpur, Chitwan, Nepal during winter season of 2006/07 in order to find out effect of nitrogen and plant population on flowering, maturity and grain yield of maize. The five levels of nitrogen; 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg N/ha and three levels of plant population; 55555, 66666 and 83333 plants/ha were applied in the experiment. Tasseling and silking days were decreased with increasing nitrogen levels and were significantly lowest under the application of 200 kg N/ha+55555 plants/ha. The physiological maturity was increased with increasing nitrogen and plant population levels. Under 200 kg N/ha + 66666 plants/ha the grain yield was the highest which was followed by grain yield produced with the application of 150 kg N/ha+83333 plants/ha. In combination with 83333 plants/ha, the optimum level of nitrogen was 150 kg N/ha for higher grain yield. The findings of this study suggested that flowering days can be shortened at 200 kg N/ha + 55555 plants/ha and maize production can be maximized at 200 kg N/ha + 66666 plants/ha.
Keywords: Maize, flowering, nitrogen, plant population and grain yield