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Journal of Agronomy

Year: 2013 | Volume: 12 | Issue: 1 | Page No.: 64-68
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Authors

S.K. Nandy

B.K. Mandal

D.K. Khan

Keywords

Research Article

Effect of Sowing Date and NPK on the Forage Yield and Quality in the Crop Combination of Maize and Cowpea in Newer Alluvial Zone of West Bengal, India

S.K. Nandy, B.K. Mandal and D.K. Khan
Growing of more than one crop simultaneously by intercropping on the same land with definite row arrangement is considered effective in achieving maximum production from unit area per unit time. A field experiment was conducted on maize-cowpea intercropping at Grass Land Research Station, State Fodder Production Cum Seed Multiplication Farm, Haringhata, Nadia, West Bengal (23°N Latitude, 89°E Longitudes with elevation of 9.75 m above MSL) during rainy (kharif) season of 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Maize (AT) and cowpea (E C 4216) were sown during 2008 and 2009 to estimate the effect of application of different NPK doses on forage yield with five treatment combinations including maize as a sole crop. The observation on the effect on quality of green forage yield and dry matter accumulation of different treatments indicated significant variability. Highest forage productions were observed in sole maize (62.1 ton) and (73.9 ton) during 2008 and 2009. Sole maize exhibited highest dry matter (551.08 and 558.65 g-2) production in 2008 and 2009, while, 2:1 with cowpea mixture produced (320.95 g-2) in 2008 and (322.88 g-2) in 2009. Moreover the digestible crude protein content in maize+cowpea (2:1) and cowpea+maize (2:1) exhibited 10.4 and 38.9% increase over control during 2008 while 10.3 and 38.4% in 2009 with N, P2O5, K2O (100:50:50) and (20:60:40), respectively. Therefore, it appears that forage quality and yield of maize with cowpea influenced the quality of forage production in maize based grass-legume intercropping system.
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