Kurmi, K.Pushpa, Dulla2020-06-162020-06-162019-07http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810147659A field experiment entitled “Effect of fertility levels and mulching on growth and yield of rabi baby corn” was carried out at the Instructional-cum-Research (ICR) Farm, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during the rabi season of 2017-18 with a view to evaluate the effect of different fertility levels and mulching on growth and yield of rabi baby corn. The experiment was laid out in a factorial RBD with three replications. The treatments consisted of two different factors, viz., four fertility levels [60-30-30 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1 (F1), 80-40-40 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1 (F2), 100-50-50 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1 (F3) and 120-60-60 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1 (F4)] and three mulching practices [without mulch (M0), mulching with paddy straw of 4 cm thickness (M1) and mulching with paddy straw of 8 cm thickness (M2)]. The soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture, acidic in reaction (pH 5.6), medium in organic carbon (0.65%) and low in available N (236.63 kg ha-1), P2O5 (22.28 kg ha-1) and K2O (126.71 kg ha-1). Experimental findings revealed that among the fertility levels, 120-60-60 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1 (F4) produced higher plant growth parameters [like plant height, number of green leaves plant-1, dry matter accumulation, LAI], yield attributes [like length and girth of cob with and without husk, weight of cob without husk] and available P2O5 in soil after harvest of baby corn which were statistically comparable with F3 but significantly superior over F2 and F1. Significantly higher number of cobs per plant, cob yield with (92.89 q ha-1) and without (19.45 q ha-1) husk, green fodder yield (38.80 t ha-1), total NPK uptake, available N and K2O in soil after harvest of baby corn were observed at F4 (120-60-60 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) over rest of the treatments. Among the mulching practices, M2 recorded highest plant height, green leaves per plant, dry matter accumulation, LAI, length and weight of cob (with and without husk), green fodder yield, total K uptake and available K2O in soil after harvest of baby corn which was statistically at par with M1. The levels of mulching recorded significant increase in girth of cob with and without husk, number of cobs per plant, yield of cob with and without husk, total uptake of N and P and available N and P2O5 content in soil after harvest of baby corn. At all intervals, the soil moisture values were found to be highest under mulching with paddy straw of 8 cm thickness (M2). The interaction effect of fertility levels and mulching were found to be significant in case of number of cobs per plant, weight of cob without husk and yield of cob (with and without husk). The maximum number of cobs per plant (3.98) were obtained at F4 (120-60-60 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) in combination with M2 (mulching with paddy straw of 8 cm thickness) level of mulching. In case of cob weight without husk, highest value was recorded at F3 (100-50-50 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) in combination with M2 (14.86 g cob-1). In M2 level of mulching, yield of cob with and without husk increased with increasing levels of fertilizer. In terms of economics, the highest gross return ( 211507.93 ha-1), net return ( 164521.80 ha-1) and net return per rupee invested (3.50) were observed at F4 (120-60-60 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) level of fertilizer in combination with M2 (mulching with paddy straw of 8 cm thickness) level of mulching and lowest at F1 (60-30-30 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) level of fertilizer in combination with M0 (control) level of mulching.ennullThesis