Effect of Spacing and Fertilizer Levels on Growth, Yield and Economics of Fodder Maize Pre-Release Culture TNFM 131-9

A field experiment was conducted for two years during 2019 - 21 at Field No.36 of Eastern block farm, Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore to identify the suitable plant spacing and nutrient levels for getting higher fodder yield and economics in fodder maize pre-release culture TNFM 131-9. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The treatments consisted of four plant spacing viz., 30 cm x 15 cm, 30 cm x 10 cm, 20 cm x 10 cm and 40 cm x 15 cm and three nutrient levels viz., 75% RDF, 100% RDF and 125% RDF. The recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) for fodder maize is 60:40:20 kg NPK/ha. The results revealed that wider spacing of 40 cm x 15cm recorded higher stem girth (2.21 cm), green fodder yield (44.80 t/ha), dry matter yield (12.10 t/ha) and crude protein yield (1.54 t/ha) which was on par with 30cm x 15cm. Application of 125% RDF (75:50:25 kg NPK/ha) resulted significantly higher stem girth (2.12 cm), green fodder yield (45.1 t/ha), dry matter yield (12.27 t/ha) and crude protein yield (1.49 t/ha) and it was on par with application of 100% RDF (60:40:20 kg NPK/ha).It can be concluded that adopting the plant spacing of 40cm x 15cm with application of 60:40:20 kg NPK/ha was found to be optimum for achieving higher green fodder and crude protein yield in the fodder maize pre-release culture TNFM 131-9