Influence of foliar nutrition at different vegetative stages on growth and yield performance of maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

Maize being a C4 crop is a high nutrient demanding crop. Application of nutrients through foliar along with recommended dose of fertilizers at the optimum growth stage could be a viable option to fulfill the crop nutrient requirement and increase the yield. Hence, field experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of foliar nutrition at different vegetative stages on growth and productivity of maize during kharif 2017 at Agricultural college farm, Raichur. Foliar nutrition of NPK (19:19:19) at 1 per cent, H3BO3 at 0.1 per cent and ZnSO4 at 0.5 per cent along with recommended dose of fertilizer sprayed at different growth stages (V5, V6, V11 and V12) were evaluated in randomized complete block design. Results showed that foliar application of ZnSO4 (0.5 %) at early vegetative stages (V5 and V6) significantly enhanced all plant growth, physiological, yield and phenological traits of maize compared to foliar nutrition at late vegetative stages (V11 and V12) and control. Statistically maximum grain yield was obtained with foliar spray of ZnSO4 at V6 stage. These results suggested that foliar application of ZnSO4 (0.5 %) at early vegetative stages can improve the performance of maize.