Thakar SinghSahoo, Priyanka2023-01-072023-01-072022Sahoo, Priyanka (2022). Integrated nutrient management for enhancing productivity of spring maize (Zea mays L.) in rice and maize based cropping systems (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation). Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810191446The study entitled “Integrated nutrient management for enhancing productivity of spring maize (Zea mays L.) in rice and maize based cropping systems” was carried out at the Student‟s Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, during the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 in split plot design. The soil of the experimental field was loamy sand, low in available N and high in available P and medium in available K. In first experiment, two crops viz., rice and potato were kept in main plots with four treatment combinations were applied to potato viz., straw removal + 100 % NPK+ FYM @ 50 t ha-1, straw removal + 150 % NPK, straw incorporation + 100 % NPK+ FYM @ 50 t ha-1 and straw incorporation + 150 % NPK and each main plot was divided into six sub plots to allocate different nutrient levels (75%, 100% and 125% NPK) to single row and double rows on bed. In second experiment, two crops viz., kharif maize and pea were kept in main plots with four treatment combinations viz., 100 % NPK to maize + 100 % NPK to pea, 100 % NPK to maize + 100 % NPK + FYM @ 20 t ha-1 to pea, 100 % NPK+ FYM @ 15 t ha-1 to maize + 100 % NPK to pea and 100 % NPK + FYM @ 15 t ha-1 to maize + 100 % NPK + FYM @ 20 t ha-1 to pea and each main plot was divided into six sub plots to allocate different nutrient levels (75%, 100% and 125% NPK) to single row and double rows on bed. The results showed that in rice-potato-spring maize cropping system, combined application of straw incorporation + 100 % NPK+ FYM @ 50 t ha-1 to potato resulted in significantly higher growth, yield attributes, grain yield (80.1 and 83.6 q ha-1), SMEY (257.6 and 267.4 q ha-1), system productivity (82.9 and 89.1 kg ha-1day-1) and net returns (259.9 and 300.2 × 103 Rs ha-1) during both years. Similarly in kharif maize-pea-spring maize cropping system, significantly higher growth, yield attributes, grain yield (81.1 and 84.3 q ha-1), SMEY (227.4 and 229.3 q ha-1), system productivity (67.5 and 67.5 kg ha-1 day-1) and net returns (240.9 and 269.7 × 103 Rs ha-1) were obtained with application of 100% NPK + FYM @15 t ha-1 to maize and 100% NPK + FYM @ 20 t ha-1 to pea during 2019 and 2020. Among nutrient levels applied to spring maize in sub plots under both the experiments, significantly higher growth, yield attributes and protein content were resulted with 125% NPK applied to single row on bed, whereas LAI, PAR interception and number of cobs per hectare were significantly higher with 125% NPK applied to double row on bed. Application of 125% NPK to double row on bed resulted in significantly higher grain yield of spring maize, SMEY, system productivity, net returns and profitability. Among the two cropping systems viz., rice-potato-spring maize and kharif maize-pea-spring maize, the rice based cropping system was more economically feasible and viable with 4.7% and 10.3% higher net returns during 2019 and 2020, respectively as compared to maize based cropping system.EnglishThesis