Influence of Seaweed Sap and Zinc on Growth and Yield of Baby Corn (Zea mays L.)

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif (August- October) 2022 at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology And Sciences, Prayagraj (U.P). The soil of the field constituting a part of central gangetic alluvium is neutral and deep. The soil of the experimental field was sandy loam in texture, slightly alkaline in soil reaction (pH 8), low level of organic carbon (0.28%), available N (219 Kg/ha), P (11.6 kg/ha) and K (217.2 kg/ha). The experiment was conducted in randomized block design consisting of 10 treatments with 3 different levels of Seaweed sap viz. 5%, 10%, 15% (15 & 30 DAS), three different levels of Zinc viz. 10, 15, 20 (basal application) with 3 replications and the treatments were allocated randomly in each replication. The results showed that treatment 9 [ZnSO4 (20kg/ha) + Seaweed sap (15%)] recorded significantly higher plant height (176.75 cm), higher plant dry weight(g) (88.42), higher crop growth rate (97.53), higher relative growth rate (0.0910), maximum number of cobs/plant (3), maximum length of cob/plant (16.90 cm), maximum grith of cob (13.02 cm), maximum cob weight with husk(g) (47.57 g), maximum cob weight without husk(g) (12.01 g), maximum cob yield with husk (9.95 t/ha), maximum green fodder yield (24.61 t/ha) compare to other treatments. The maximum gross returns (99,500.00 INR/ha), maximum net return (62,464.00 INR/ha) and highest benefit cost ratio (1.68) was recorded in treatment 9 [ZnSO4 (20kg/ha) + Seaweed sap (15%)] as compared to other treatments. Minimum parameters were recorded in treatment 10 control plot with RDF 100:60:40 kg/ha NPK.