Effect of Tillage Practices and Nutrient Sources on Yield and Nutrient Uptake by Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. ssp. saccharata)

Abstract

An experiment was carried out during rabi seasons of 2015-16 and 2016-17 at Agronomy Farm, College of Agriculture, Dr. B. S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, Maharashtra to study the effect of tillage practices and nutrient sources on yield and nutrient uptake by sweet corn. The main plot treatments comprised of four tillage practices viz.,  one pass of rotavator (T₁), one pass of cultivator + one pass of rotavator (T₂), one mouldboard ploughing + one pass of rotavator (T₃) and one mouldboard ploughing + one pass of cultivator + one pass of rotavator (T₄), while in the sub plot there were five nutrient sources viz., 100% RDF through chemical fertilizers (S₁), 75% RDN through chemical fertilizer + 25% RDN through FYM (S₂), 75% RDN through chemical fertilizer + 25% RDN through vermicompost (S₃), 75% RDN through chemical fertilizer + 25% RDN through poultry manure (S₄) and 75% RDN through chemical fertilizer + 25% RDN through goat manure (S₅). Among the tillage practices, the treatment T₄ recorded 7.73, 5.22 and 2.78% higher green cob yield and 10.21, 6.53 and 3.40% higher green fodder yield, over the treatments T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively. It also registered 24.55, 15.06 and 7.52% higher total nitrogen uptake, 21.38, 14.06 and 7.41% higher total phosphorus uptake and 12.53, 7.92 and 3.88% higher total potassium uptake over tillage practices T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively. The combined application of 75% RDN through chemical fertilizer + 25% RDN through vermicompost (S₃) proved significantly superior over rest of the nutrient sources in respect of green cob yield, green fodder yield, biological yield, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content as well as uptake of these nutrients. However, it was statistically similar with S_2 for green cob yield and green fodder yield. Nutrient source S₃ registered 8.56, 6.93, 6.18 and 0.71% higher green cob yield with sheath, 6.85, 3.85, 2.03 and 0.89% higher green fodder yield, 24.28, 13.95, 9.30 and 3.82% increase in total nitrogen uptake, 20.29, 13.68, 10.36 and 4.42% increase in total phosphorus uptake and 11.12, 7.51, 5.27 and 1.57% increase in total potassium uptake over nutrient sources S₁, S₅, S₄ and S₂, respectively. The treatment combination T₄S₃ recorded significantly highest green cob yield and biological yield but was at par with T₄S₂, T₃S₃ and T₃S₂ for green cob yield and T₄S₂ and T₃S₃ for total biological yield. Therefore, to obtain higher yields of sweet corn the soil should be prepared by one mouldboard ploughing + one pass of cultivator + one pass of rotavator along with nutrient application of 75% RDN through chemical fertilizer + 25% RDN through vermicompost.