Effect of Seed Priming and Moisture Conservation Measures on Growth and Yield of Baby Corn (Zea mays L.) under Rainfed Upland Situation

A field experiment was conducted during rabi, 2019-20 and 2020-21 at the PG experimental plot of the Department of Agronomy, BNCA to assess seed priming and moisture conservation measures on productivity and profitability of baby corn under the rainfed situation. The soil of the experimental site was acidic (pH 4.64), sandy loam in texture, medium in organic carbon (0.64%), low in available N (232.06 kg ha-1), P2O5 (13.84 kg ha-1) and K2O (115.27 kg ha-1). The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with 4 levels of seed priming methods. S0: No priming; S1: Seed priming with 1% urea solution; S2: priming with 1% potash solution (MOP); S3: priming with 3 times diluted cow urine and 3 levels of soil moisture conservation measures viz. M0: No mulching; M1: use of bio mulch; M2: use of black polythene mulch. Results revealed that the highest and quickest seedling emergence (11.96 numbers m-2) was recorded under the treatment of seed priming with three times diluted cow urine which was at par with the treatment of seed priming with 1% urea and 1% KCl (MOP) solution. The total number of leaves m-2, total leaf area plant-1 and leaf area index (LAI) of baby corn were also changed significantly due to different moisture conservation measures but those parameters remain static due to different seed priming methods. The CGR (g m-2 day-1), RGR, (g g-1 day-1) and NAR (mg cm-1 day-1) of baby corn were also changed significantly due to different soil moisture conservation measures. The highest and most significant baby corn yield without husk(22.59 q ha-1) with 305.61 q ha-1 of green fodder yield along with harvest index (6.00), production efficiency (25.67 kg‑1 day-1 ha-1) and nutrient use productivity (9.41 kg‑1 ha-1 kg-1) were recorded under the treatment where black polythene mulching was used as soil moisture conservation measure.