Abstract

Investigating the response of rain-fed maize to fertility levels and weed management practices, a field trial was undertaken in 2012 and 2013 at Experimental Farm, D(K)ARS, SKUAST-Kashmir, (J&K). The experiment consisted of 3 fertility levels and 4 weed management practices. The results revealed that fertility levels F₃ and F₂ at par with one another recorded significant increase in cob length, number of cobs plant^-1, number of grains cob^-1, 100-seed weight, grain yield, and stover yield as against F₁ during both the years, however, number of rows cob^-1, cob diameter showed significant and consistent improvement with increase in fertility level from F₁ to F₃ during both years of study. Further, fertility levels F₃ recorded significant increase in biological yield over F₁, however, increase in fertility level from F₁ to F₂ increased the harvest index significantly during both years of study. Weed management practices W₂ being at par with W₃ recorded significant improvement in all yield contributing characters over W₁ and W₀. Both grain and stover yields were significantly higher with W₂ over W₁ and W₀, however, it was at par with W₃ during 2012 and 2013. W₃ and W₂ at par with one another recorded significantly higher biological yield and harvest index over W₁ and W₀ during both the years of experimentation.

Key words: Fertility levels, weed management, yield, yield attributes, rain-fed maize.