Growth, Phenology, Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Sweet Corn as Influenced by Cultivars and Planting Times under Irrigated Subtropics of Shiwalik Foot Hills

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during summer season of 2013 under irrigated subtropics Shiwalik foot hills to study the effect of different cultivars and planting times of sweet corn on sandy clay loam soil, at the Research Farm of Division of Agronomy, Sher- e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu. The treatments include three sweet corn cultivars (Misthi, Sugar-75 and Gold star) and six planting times (29 March, 15 April, 30 April, 15 May, 30 May and 19 June) in split plot design. Results revealed that different cultivars “Misthi, Sugar-75 and Gold star” did not differ significantly from one another with regard to plant height, leaf area index and dry matter accumulation, however, cultivar Misthi recorded numerically higher values of all these parameters over Sugar-75 and Gold star. Similarly, cultivar Misthi registered its numerical superiority in all the phenological parameters like yield, uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as well as significantly superior in days taken to 50 % tasseling, cob girth, number of grains/row, number of grains/cob row and phosphorus uptake in stover and potassium uptake in grains. Among the six planting times, 29 March, 15April, 30 April, 15 May, 30 May and 19 June; the crop sown on April 15, March 29 and April 30 recorded statistically similar but significantly more plant height, leaf area index, dry matter accumulation, cob length, number of grain rows/cob, number of cobs /plant, number of grains/cob and grain yield at maturity, nitrogen uptake in grains, phosphorus and potassium uptake in both grain and stover yields than the crop sown on 15 May and onwards. The crop sown on 29 March took significantly more days to attain 50 % tasseling and silking. Therefore, cultivar Misthi has been adjudged as the best cultivar and the period from 29 March to 30 April as the optimum sowing window with 15 April as appropriate sowing time for judicious utilization of applied resources for optimization of yields under sub-tropical Shiwalik foot hills.