Vol. 10, Issue 11 (2021)

Author(s):
P Dhamodharan, VM Sankaran, S Suresh and D Rajakumar

Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted during summer (March-May) season of 2021 at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Killikulam to investigate the effects of different nitrogen fertilization rates and humic acid on the fodder yield and quality of maize (African tall) and cowpea (Co 9) intercropping. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with 12 treatment combinations, replicated thrice. The experimental results revealed that the basal application of 20 kg ha^-1 humic acid along with enriched farmyard manure applied with 125% recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) and foliar application @ 1% Urea on 25 and 45 DAS recorded the maximum green fodder and dry fodder yield of maize (35.14 t ha^-1, 5.27 t ha^-1) and cowpea (18.51 t ha^-1, 2.77 t ha^-1) at harvest. The minimum yield was obtained in the absolute control plot. It was found that there is an increase of 66.8% and 56.9% of maize and cowpea green fodder yield respectively over the untreated plot. The maximum crude protein of 11.85% (T₈), crude fibre of 32.22% (T₃), ether extract of 2.65% (T₈₎ and ash of 12.48% (T₈₎ from maize and maximum crude protein of 22.42% (T₈), crude fibre of 30.57% (T₁₂), ether extract of 4.5% (T₈) and ash of 22.76% (T₈₎ from cowpea were obtained from the experimental study. It was concluded that increasing the nitrogen fertilization rate and the humic acid enhanced the green fodder yield, dry fodder yield and improved the quality parameters of both fodder maize and cowpea grown under intercropping.