THE GROWTH AND YIELD TRAITS OF SWEET WAXY MAIZE UNDER NPK FERTILIZER APPLICATION WITH VARIOUS PLANT DENSITY

One of the problems in the development of waxy maize is low production. The applications of agronomic technology such as plant density and fertilizer application are known to improve growth and increase corn yields. This study aims to observe the effect of NPK fertilizer rates applied under various plant densities on the growth and yield of sweet waxy maize GC 19099 on Cambisol soil type in Bakung Village, North Indralaya District, South Sumatera Province, Indonesia. The field experimental were arranged using Randomized Completely Block Design with plant density treatments (75 cm x 15 cm, 75 cm x 20 cm, 75 cm x 25 cm) and NPK fertilizer rate treatments (150, 300, 450 kg ha-1) with three replicates. The growth and yield characters were observed include plant height, number of leaves, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, shoot root dry weight ratio, cob length and cob weight. The results showed that plant density treatment of 75 cm x 20 cm gave the best growth and yield of waxy maize. The best influence on the growth and yield of waxy maize was also obtained in NPK fertilizer rate of 300 kg ha-1. The combination of planting density of 75 cm x 20 cm and NPK fertilizer rate of 300 kg ha-1 was the best combination in improving growth and increasing the yield of waxy corn.