Vol. 11, Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Shashikanth, Murukannappa and Thimmegowda MN

Abstract:
A field experiment was studied in rainfed Alfisols of southern Karnataka, University of Agricultural Sciences, Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra, Bangalore during kharif 2019 to study the growth yield and economics of maize under different mulching practices. The soil of experimental site was red sandy loam in texture, slightly acidic in reaction, low in available nitrogen, medium in Phosphorous and Potassium. The experiment consisted of seven treatments viz, mulching with paddy straw, mulching with saw dust, mulching with grass, mulching with news paper, mulching with dry leaves, dust mulching and control which were replicated thrice and laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design. The maize crop with dry leaves mulching treatment resulted in higher crop growth viz., higher plant height (190, 208 and 228 cm) at 60, 90 DAS and at harvest, respectively. The similar results on number of leaves, leaf area index and yield parameters at harvest viz., number of cobs per plant (2.67), cob length (15.70 cm), 100 seed weight of grains (24.33) and grain weight per cob (145.79), grain yield (7228 kg ha^-1) and stover yield (9305 kg ha^-1). The higher gross income (Rs. 86745 ha^-1), net income (Rs. 56556 ha^-1) and B:C ratio (2.87) was also obtained with same treatment.