Performance of baby corn varieties under agro-climatic conditions of Goa

Field studies during three seasons, i.e., rabi, summer and kharif for two years were conducted at ICAR Research Complex for Goa, Old Goa to evaluate the performance of baby corn varieties for commercial cultivation. Results indicated significant differences among the varieties, seasons and between variety and season for all the characters. Morphological characters such as plant height, leaves per plant and stem girth were found maximum in all the varieties grown during rabi season. Maximum plant height (168.56 cm) and highest number (14.32) of leaves per plant were recorded in G-5406. Comparatively, varieties were found early in maturity during summer season. Among the varieties, VL-42 was found early (44.67 days) while Mridula (55.89 days) as late. The ratio of dehusked cob weight to green cob weight was higher in kharif season and the highest ratio was noticed in VL-42 (0.18) and VLBC-1 (0.17) grown in summer. Higher cob weight, dehusked cob weight, dehusked cob length and diameter, cobs per plant, cob yield, dehusked cob yield and fodder yield were observed in winter season crops for all the varieties. Golden Baby was found superior variety for most of the characters in all the seasons. Higher net returns and benefit: cost ratio were noticed in Golden Baby, G-5406 and Mridula.