Crop Research

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2010 under rainfed condition on red sandy loam soil to study the effect of farm yard manure and biodigester liquid manure on growth and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) under rainfed condition at Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences (Bangalore), Bhavikere, Tarikere taluk. The experiment was laid out in randomised complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. There were totally 13 treatment combinations comprising different levels farm yard manure (7.5, 10 and 12.5 t/ha) and biodigester liquid manure equivalent (75, 100, 125 and 150 kg N/ha) compared with control (FYM 7.5 t/ha+RDF: 100: 50: 25 kg NPK/ha). Application of FYM @ 12.5 t/ha+biodigester liquid manure equivalent @ 150 kg N/ha recorded significant increase in growth attributing characters like plant height (187.0 cm), number of leaves per plant (12.30), leaf area (4118.2 cm²/plant), leaf area index per plant (1.78), leaf area duration (68.5 days) and dry matter accumulation (360.8 g/plant) and yield attributing characters grain weight per cob (105.2 g), number of seeds per cob (421.0), number of rows per cob (15.1 g), cob length (17.0 cm), grain yield (55.1 q/ha) and stover yield (108.9 q/ha) compared with remaining treatments.