Growth and yield of rainfed maize as influenced by application of super absorbent polymer and Pongamia leaf mulching

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the growth and yield of rainfed maize as influenced by the application of superabsorbent polymer and pongamia leaf mulch at Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Babbur Farm, Hiriyur, Karnataka during Kharif 2017. The superabsorbent polymer as Pusa hydrogel or commercially available hydrogel at 2.5 and 5.0 kg ha-1and pongamia leaf mulch at 4.0 t ha-1alone and their combinations were set as treatments. The results of the study showed that soil application of commercial hydrogel @ 5.0 kg ha-1+ mulching with pongamia green leaf @ 4.0 t ha-1gave maximum grain yield (93.20q ha-1), stover yield (117.14 q ha-1) compared to rest of the treatments. Similarly, 100 grain weight (46.79 g), cob length (18.87 cm), cob girth (14.92 cm), number of grains per cob (507.73), average AGR (2.65), average CGR (18.61) and maximum LAI (4.71) were also higher. Next best treatment is found to be soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5.0 kg ha-1+ mulching with pongamia green leaf @ 4.0 t ha-1. From the above results, it can be inferred that soil application of hydrogel with pongamia leaf mulch may be a significant practice to increase the yield of maize under rainfed conditions.