Influence of nutrient management practices for relay cropped maize (Zea mays)

Plant nutrition is one of the important factors that manipulate the growth and yield of maize crop. It will be suboptimal when the bio-available soil pools of these nutrients are insufficient. Therefore, along with chemical fertilizers the crop plants are also vastly dependent on root-associated microbes and foliar applied liquid manures to enhance nutrient availability. This field experiment was conducted during 2018 at Annamalai University Experimental Farm, Annamalainagar, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India to find out the effect of integrated nutrient management practices for maximizing the yield of maize under relay cropping system. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. A total of thirteen treatments comprised of three doses of fertilizer i.e., 100, 75 and 50% in combination with and without seed treatment of microbial consortium and foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% at knee high and pre-tasseling stages along with absolute control. The maximum growth characters, yield attributes and yield, were registered with integrated application of 100% RDF along with seed treatment with microbial consortium and foliar application of panchagavya at knee high and pretasseling stages. However, based on the economic benefits, it can be concluded that integrated application of 75% RDF (187.50: 56.25: 56.25 kg/ha N, P2O5 and K2O, respectively), seed treatment with microbial consortium (20 mL/kg) and foliar application of panchagavya @ 3% at knee high and pre-tasseling stages is economically feasible agrotechnology as it provides better returns to the small and marginal maize growing farmers under relay cropping system in Cauvery Deltaic region of Coastal Tamil Nadu, India.