Hi
Land Conditions preferred--
Heavy black to black soils are preferred. Saline soils and ill drained soils are not suitable.
land preparation required before sowing
One deep ploughing in summer followed by one to two ploughs by cultivator to get fine tilth. Field should be laid out into ridges and furrows made at a spacing of 30-45cm.
Seed rate
50kg/ha
Sowing time
Optimum time of sowing in Kharif is May-June and in Rabi October to November.
Spacing
Row to row 30-45cm, plant to plant 20cm or on both sides of the ridge at a spacing of 10cm.
Fertilizer application
Apply 20-25tons FYM/ha before ploughing apply 40kg P 2O 5 and K 2O applied as basal 60-80kg N in two equal splits at basal and tasselling stage. For irrigated crop apply 100-120kg. Nitrogen in three equal splits at basal, knee high and tasselling stages.
Drainage
Maize is very sensitive to illdrained conditions. Crop grown under waterlogged condition becomes pale, grows poorly and the uniformly of the crop is lost. Areas where drainage is a problem provide drainage channels of 1meter width for every 10 meters length of ridges.
Harvesting time for fodder production
Fodder yield : 35-40 t/ha – Drylands 50-60 t/ha - irrigated crop. Milk to early dough stage. For silage making milk to dough is preferred.
Harvesting time for seed production
The grain crop of maize is harvested when cob sheath turns brownish, grains become hard and the moistures percent should be below 20 percent.
Regards
Ashwini
