Assessment Of Precision Nutrient Management Practices On Crop Growth, Productivity, And Profitability Of Maize Grown During Winter In Central Terai, Nepal

To assess the effect of precision nutrient management practices on the growth, productivity, and profitability of different maize cultivars grown during winter, a field experiment was accomplished at Khairahani, Chitwan, during 2018/19. The field experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications for two maize cultivars as main-plot treatments (V1-Rampur Composite and V2-Rampur Hybrid-6) and four precision nutrient management practices as sub-plot treatments (T1-Blanket recommendation (60:30:30 kg NPK ha-1), T2-SSNM based Nutrient Expert-Maize model recommended dose (110:27:33 kg NPK ha-1), T3-Farmers’ fertilizer practices (82.5:34.5:15 kg NPK ha-1), T4-LCC based Nitrogen and farmers’ practice-based P and K). The experimental finding indicated that the overall performance of the Rampur Hybrid-6 cultivar was superior to Rampur Composite in terms of yield and yield attributes. SSNM-based NE-Maize model was superior to other nutrient management practices on growth attributes viz. plant height, leaf area index and crop growth rate, yield attributing characters viz. total number of kernels cob-1, number of rows cob-1, and kernel yield. SSNM-based NE- Maize model recorded the best performance with the highest BC ratio (2.47) followed by LCC-based Nitrogen over the farmer’s fertilizer practice-based P and K (2.42).