Development of nitrogen dilution curve for baby corn based on leaf and plant dry matter
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Date
2018
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College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU, Imphal
Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal crop next to rice and wheat in India, second most important crop in Meghalaya. Baby corn maize is one of the valued vegetables gaining popularity throughout the world. Baby corn is the ear of maize plant harvested young especially when silks have either emerged or no fertilization has taken place, depending on the cultivar grown. Baby corn is a low calorie vegetable, low-carbohydrate, high fibre and fat free vegetable. Baby corn has low glycemic index than regular corn and good for controlling blood sugar levels. It is also called as “miracles crop” and also “queen of cereals” due to its immense potential yield. N plays an important role in increasing growth and development of plants, being a constituent of protein and it increases the food value. Nitrogen dose have distinct relationship between leaf area index and its productivity. Most of N fertilizers are water soluble, mobile and more losses that need to N management for improving N use efficiency and crop yields. Optimizing the quantity of N required at each crop growth stage is critical for increasing baby corn yield, improving agronomic N use efficiency (NUE) and environmental sustainability. Accurate diagnosis of nitrogen (N) fertilizer required for crop growth can serve as a guide for N management by improving N use efficiency and baby corn yields. The critical N concentration (Nc), the minimum N required for maximal crop growth has been widely used to determine crop N status. From the experimental finding application of N4 (80 kg N ha-1) produced the maximum LAI, dry matter production of baby corn and also CGR, RGR and NAR of baby corn. The chlorophyll and SPAD value increased with the increasing N levels and significantly higher values were observed with N6 (120 kg N ha-1). Application of N4 (80 kg N ha-1) produced the maximum yield of baby corn as well as green fodder compared to other treatment. In dilution curve based on plant dry matter (PDM) and plant nitrogen concentration (PNC) , the strongest relationship was found with R2 values of 0.98 and 0.99 were observed at knee high and tasseling stages of baby corn. Whereas, leaf dry matter (LDM) and leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC), the strongest relationship was found with R2 values of 0.98 and 0.99 at seedling growth and knee high stages for baby corn in kharif and post kharif season, respectively. In normalised spad index (NSI), the strongest relationship was found with R2 values of 0.96 and 0.99 were observed at early vegetative and knee high stages for baby corn in kharif and post kharif season, respectively.
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Babycorn