Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2006 to 2007 and 2007 to 2008 to study the effect of sowing dates and integrated nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of winter maize. The trial was laid out in split plot design with three replications, assigning total 27 treatment combinations i.e. three sowing dates (15 October, 25 October and 5 November) in main plots and three levels of nitrogen from inorganic fertilizer urea (50, 100 and 150 N₂0 kg ha^-1) and two organic fertilizer (FYM, Azospirillum) and control in sub plots. The crop sown on 25 October significantly enhanced the growth and grain yield than early sowing 15 October and late sowing 5 November while, 150 kg of N₂O ha^-1 application significantly increased over 100 and 50 kg N₂O ha^-1. However, N₂O application through FYM was found statistically at par with N₂O application through the Azospirillum in growth and grain yield during both years. But, application of 100 kg ha^-1 with 7.50 t ha^-1 FYM at the sowing of 25 Oct significantly influenced the growth, yield and quality of maize and was recorded 9.35 and 23.07% more grain yield over the other treatment combinations.

Key words: Rabi maize, sowing dates, integrated nutrient management (INM), sustainable, growth, yield.