Growth, yield and quality of teosinte (Euchleana maxicana L.) fodder as influenced by nitrogen and phosphorus application

• Published in: Journal of plant nutrition Vol. 44; no. 12; pp. 1732 - 1740
• Main Authors: Singh, Magan, Dutta, Susanta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis 21.07.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Crop yield; Crops; Fodder; Forage crops; growth; Hemicellulose; Nitrogen; nitrogen levels; Nutrients; Phosphorus; phosphorus levels; Phosphorus pentoxide; quality; Teosinte fodder; yield
• DOI: 10.1080/01904167.2021.1884697
• ISSN: 0190-4167

Nitrogen and phosphorus are the most critical determinants of fodder yield and quality. Here, we chose Teosinte fodder (Euchleana maxicana L.) as a test crop for evaluating the effects of supplied nutrients. Farmers applied injudiciously nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P 2 O 5 ) doses to fodder crops; hence, it is essential to find out the optimum doses of N and P 2 O 5 for yield and quality enhancement under irrigated condition in karnal. In this experiment, it was needed to investigate the effect of different levels of N (0, 40, 80, 120, 160 kg/ha) and P 2 O 5 (0, 30, 60 kg/ha) combinations on the growth attributes and quality of fodder crops. Among the nutrient levels, 160 kg N and 60 kg P 2 O 5 combination maximize yield attributing characters and also improve the quality parameters viz. crude protein, ash, ether extract, nitrogen free extract, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and hemicellulose. Therefore, it is concluded that present study demonstrates that optimum levels both N and P 2 O 5 application significantly increased growth attributing characters, yield as well as enhanced the quality traits of the fodder crops.