Productivity and profitability under different weed management practices and levels of nitrogen in maize soybean intercropping

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during Kharif seasons of 2009 and 2010 at Agricultural Research Farm, R.B.S. College, Bichpuri, Agra to study the effect of weedicides and nitrogen levels on productivity and profitability of maize-soybean intercropping system. The eight weed control treatments and four nitrogen levels were tested in split plot design. The significantly higher plant height and dry matter of maize was obtained with Pendimethalin pre-em. @ 1.5 kg ha-1. Plant height and dry matter were found significantly higher with the application of 120 kg N ha-1 by 6.26 and 3.41% respectively, over 40 kg N ha-1. All the yield attributes increased significantly with Pendimethalin preem. @ 1.5 kg ha-1except weight of cobs plant-1 and shelling percentage. The per cent increase in cobs plant-1, weight of cobs plant-1 seeds cob-1, weight of seeds cob-1 and shelling percentage under 120 kg N ha-1 over control were 41.7,19.9, 15.2, 25.5 and 4.9, respectively. The significantly higher bio-mass, grain, straw/stover and MEY were obtained with Pendimethalin pre-em. @ 1.5 kg ha-1. The per cent increase in bio-mass, grain, stover production and MEY by 120 kg N ha-1 over control were 96.8, 97.8, 96.2 and 101.0, respectively. Application of Pendimethalin pre-em. @ 1.5 kg ha-1 attained significantly more growth parameters such as plant height, dry matter accumulation and branches per plant of soybean over all other treatments except Oxyfluorfen pre-em @ 0.150 kg ha-1. All the growth parameters were highest with 120 kg N ha-1 but this was statistically at par with 80 and 40 kg N ha-1. The increasing in yield attributes of soybean i.e. number of pods, weight of pods, seeds pod-1, weight of seeds plant-1 and shelling percentage with Pendimethalin pre-em. @ 1.5 kg ha-1 were the tune of 87.4, 99.6, 33.3, 134.7 and 18.0 per cent, respectively over weedy check. All yield attributes were obtained highest with 120 kg N ha-1 but this was statistically at par with 40 and 80 kg N ha-1. The application of Pendimethalin pre-em. @ 1.5 kg ha-1 produced significantly higher bio-mass, grain yield straw yield over rest of the weed control treatments except Oxyfluorfen pre-em @ 0.150 kg ha-1. Application of 120 kg N ha-1 resulted in highest bio-mass, grain yield and straw yield but this was statistically at par with 40 and 80 kg N ha-1. The maximum net return and B:C ratio were obtained with Pendimethalin pre-em. @ 1.5 kg ha-1. Application of 120 kg N ha-1 gave the highest net return (Rs. 44,060) and B:C ratio (3.44).