Performance of baby corn (Zea mays) under different fertility levels and planting methods and its residual effect on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)

A field trial was conducted at Varanasi during 2010–11 and 2011–12, to study the effect of fertility levels and planting methods on growth, yield, nutrient uptake and economics of baby corn (Zea mays L.) and its residual biomass incorporation effect on sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. The experiment was carried out in a spiltplot design with 4 replications. The main plots were allocated with fertility levels F0 (no fertilizer as control), F1 (75, 19.64, 37.35, 20 and 5), F2 (150, 39.28, 74.71, 40 and 10) and F3 (225, 46.76, 112.06, 60 and 15) kg/ha of N, P, K, S and Zn and sub-plots with combinations of 2 planting methods (flat bed and raised bed) and 2 varieties viz; (‘Pro-Agro 4212’ and ‘Sweet Corn Sugar 75’). Application of 225, 46.76, 112.06, 60 and 15 kg/ha of N, P, K, S and Zn fertility level significantly increased plant growth, yield, yield attributes and nutrient removal over rest of the treatments. Overall, this particular fertility level registered 55.0% more yield (without husk) than control. Among the sub-plot treatments raised bed planting recorded the highest plant height, leaf-area Index, dry-matter production, nutrient removal and registered 12.5% more baby corn yield (without husk) than flat bed, while ‘Pro-Agro 4212’ also recorded the same and registered 18.8% more baby corn yield (without husk) than Sweet Corn ‘Sugar 75’. Further, 225, 46.76, 112.06, 60 and 15 kg/ha fertility levels applied to previous crop increased the sorghum grain yield by (33.3%) over the control.