Influence of Nutrient and Weed Management on Growth, Yield and Energetics of Maize

Abstract

A field experiment entitled “Influence of nutrient and weed management on growth, yield and bioenergetics of maize (Zea mays L.)” was conducted in agricultural research farm of Lovely Professional University, Punjab. The investigation was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications, aimed to study the impact of nutrient and weed management on growth attributes, yield attributes and bioenergetics of maize. The treatment consisted of three nutrient management treatments viz., T1 (100% N through Recommended dose of fertilizer), T2 (75% N through RDF and 25% N through vermicompost (P and K recommended doses)), T3 (75% N through RDF and 25% N through Farmyard manure) (recommended doses of P and K)); three weed management treatments, viz, W1 (control), W2 (Atrazine @1 kg a.i/ha + Tembotrione @110 g a.i/ha), W3 (Live mulching with cowpea). The results of the experiment revealed that among the nutrient management treatments, significantly higher growth attributes, yield attributes, energy output, energy efficiency index was observed with treatment T2 (75% N through RDF and 25% N through vermicompost) and the lowest was observed in treatment T1 (100% N through RDF), the pooled data suggested that yield was significantly highest in treatment combination T2W2 (75% N through RDF and 25% N through vermicompost along with Atrazine @1 kg a.i/ha + Tembotrione @110 g a.i/ha).