Growth and yield of maize as influenced by plant stand and nitrogen management strategy under fertigation

“A field experiment was conducted during “rabi” and “summer” seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24 at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Nandyal, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh in “split-plot design” with three replications to study the effect of different plant stand and nitrogen management strategies on growth, yield parameters and yield of maize under fertigation. Among the different plant stand in maize, higher plant height, leaf area and dry matter production was recorded at plant stand P₁ (1,11,111 plants ha^-1), which was on par with plant stand P₂ (83,333 plants ha^-1) and significantly superior over plant stand P₃ (66,666 plants ha^-1) whereas, the yield parameters viz., number of cobs plant^-1, cob length, cob girth, number of kernel rows cob^-1, number of kernels cob^-1 and test weight were maximum with plant stand P₃ (66,666 plants ha^-1), which was comparable with P₂ (83,333 plants ha^-1) but the higher kernel and stover yield was with plant stand P₂ (83,333 plants ha^-1) on par with plant stand P₁ (1,11,111 plants ha^-1) significantly superior over P₃ (66,666 plants ha^-1),. With regard to nitrogen management strategies maximum growth, yield attributes and yield were recorded NDVI application significantly superior over SPAD based application and the lower values were noted at N₇ (control). But STBR based N application (N₅) took more days for tasselling, silking and maturity.