Effect of tillage, sowing time and irrigation on growth and yield of maize (Zea mays L.)

A field experiment was conducted at research farm of Bihar Agricultural College, Sabour, Bhagalpur during rabi season of 2016-17 to find out the effect of tillage, sowing time and irrigation on growth and yield of maize (Zea mays L.).The experiment comprised of two tillage methods viz. conventional tillage (CT) and zero tillage (ZT) in main plot, two sowing dates- 30th October and 10th November as sub-plot and three irrigation levels (I2 - 2 irrigations at six-leaf stage and tasseling, I4 - 4 irrigations at four-leaf stage, ten leaf stage, tasseling and milking and I6 - 6 irrigations at four-leaf stage, eight leaf stage, ten leaf stage, tasseling, milking and dough stage) as sub-sub plot treatment. The results indicated that the growth and productivity of rabi maize is significantly influenced by management practices. However, maximum grain yield (11.1 t ha-1) was recorded in zero tillage system with six irrigation. Delay in sowing of rabi maize reduced the grain yield considerably at a rate of 121 kg/ha/day. With increasing resource as well as crop management constraints, adoption of zero tillage along with residue retention and optimum water use has the potential of improving the growth and crop productivity of maize.