GROWTH, YIELD ATTRIBUTES AND YIELD OF A MAIZE GENOTYPE SAUWMOP DT61G UNDER DIFFERENT PLANTING CONFIGURATIONS IN RABI SEASON

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from October, 2018 to February, 2019 in Rabi season. The white maize genotype SAUWMOP DT61G was examined under different planting configurations. The experiment comprised two factors, A: five levels of row spacing R1(40 cm), R2(45 cm), R3 (50 cm), R4(55 cm) and R5(60 cm) and B: three levels of plant-to-plant spacing in a row P1( 15 cm, P2(20 cm), and P3(25 cm). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and each treatment combination was tested using three replications. Both the row to spacing and plant-to-plant spacing along with their combination had significant effects on the plant attributes. The treatment combination 60 cm × 15 cm spacing (R5P1) showed the tallest plant (144.60 cm). The highest number of plant (16.62 m−2), maximum leaf area plant−1 (2345.00 cm2) and maximum biomass (18.59 t ha−1) was observed in 40 cm × 15 cm spacing (R1P1). The 60 cm × 25 cm combination treatment had the highest grain wt/ha (10.98) which was attributed to the highest values of no. of grain/cob (489.60), Wt./cob (104.60), grain wt./cob (78.40 g), cob length (16.55 cm), cob girth (15.00cm), cob dry wt./plant (89.92 g), stover dry wt./plant (64.00 g), root dry wt./plant (14.64 g) and total dry wt./plant (168.60 g) obtained from this treatment. However, the yield of the 60 cm × 20 cm combination treatment (10.64 t/ha) was not significantly lower than that of the 60 cm × 25 cm combination treatment. So, to reduce the seed cost, the combination treatments 60 cm × 25 cm may be used for higher profit.