INFLUENCE OF ROW SPACING AND NITROGEN LEVELS ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF BABY CORN

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University farm, Dhaka to investigate the influence of row spacing and nitrogen levels on growth and yield of baby corn during the period from March to May, 2016. The experiment comprised with two factors viz., (i) Row spacing (ii) Nitrogen level. Three row spacing (S = 30 cm × 25 cm, S 2 = 45 cm × 25 cm and S = 60 cm × 25 cm) and five nitrogen levels (0 (control) - N 0 , 50 kg urea ha -1 - N 1 3 , 100 kg N ha -1 - N 2 , 150 kg N ha -1 , 200 kg N ha -1 - N ). The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications where row spacing was placed along the main plot and nitrogen level in the sub plot. Results revealed that, row spacing intermediately influenced the growth parameters, had no significant effect on most of the yield attributes but strongly influenced the yield parameters of baby corn. Number of cobs plant 4 -1 of baby corn was not significantly differed for row spacing, nitrogen levels and interaction of row spacing and nitrogen levels. The maximum cob yield (9.60 t ha -1 ) was obtained from row spacing 30 cm × 25 cm (S 1 ) and the minimum cob yield (3.68 t ha -1 ) was obtained from 60 cm × 25 cm (S ). The row spacing 30 cm × 25 cm gave 160.87% higher yield over row spacing 60 cm × 25 cm. Nitrogen level significantly influenced most of the growth, yield and yield attributes of baby corn. The maximum cob yield (6.66 t ha 3 ) was recorded from the application of 150 kg N ha -1 (N ) which was 17.05% higher than the plot received no supplementary nitrogen (N 0 3 ) (5.69 t ha -1 ). The highest cob yield (10.20 t ha -1 ) was produced when the plot treated with 150 kg N ha -1 with row spacing of 30 cm × 25 cm that was similar with same row spacing combined with 50 kg N ha and 200 kg N ha -1 , respectively. The lowest cob yield (3.31 t ha -1 ) was produced when the plot received no supplementary nitrogen with row spacing of 60 cm × 25 cm which was statistically similar with S 3 N 1 and S 3 N 2 - N . Nitrogen level 150 kg N ha with row spacing of 30 cm × 25 cm produced 208.16% higher cob than the plot received no supplementary nitrogen with row spacing 60 cm × 25 cm. Application of 150 kg N ha -1 of with 30 cm × 25 cm spacing could be the best production package for cultivation of baby corn.