RESPONSE OF LOCAL MAIZE VARIETIES TO DIFFERENT DOSES OF FERTILIZER APPLICATION

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during November 2019 to April 2020 to examine the response of local maize varieties to different doses of fertilizer application. The experiment comprised of two doses of fertilizer (viz. 100% and 50% of the recommended for the composite varieties designed as F 100 and F ) and eight local maize varieties named according to the grain colour (White, Yellowish, Yellow, Reddish, Red, Blackish-red, Black-bold, and Black-small). The experiment was laid out in Split Plot Design with three replications. The main plot was used for fertilizer doses and sub plot was used for varieties. Data was taken on plant height, no of leaves plant 50 -1 , leaf area, base circumference, cob distance, dry weight, cob number plant -1 , cob length, number of grains cob -1 , grain weight cob -1 , 100-grain weight, grain yield, stover yield, biological yield and harvest index. The fertilizers and varieties showed significant differences in almost all the plant parameters. The fertilizer treatments did not show significant difference in terms of grain yields. The variety yellowish, yellow and blackish-red showed statistically similar grain yields (5.2-5.46 t ha -1 ). Likewise, the interaction of fertilizer and variety had significant differences. The interaction of F with the varieties White, Yellowish, Yellow, Reddish and Red showed seed yields which were at par but significantly higher over others showing the range between (5.300-5.500 t ha -1 ). The lowest grain yield was obtained with F 100 Black-small (3.40 t ha 50 -1 )