EFFECT OF FERTILIZER LEVELS AND PLANT DENSITIES ON YIELD AND PROTEIN CONTENTS OF AUTUMN PLANTED MAIZE

Abstract

-1 and 0 kg Zn ha -1 and crop was sown at plant density of 57100 plants ha -1 . Increasing fertilizer levels and plant densities linearly increased plant height and grain yield. Application of Zinc accelerated tasseling and silking of maize crop, however the application of nitrogen had no significant effect on tasseling and silking. The fertilizer levels and plant densities also significantly affected protein contents of maize grain. Application of nitrogen at higher levels improved protein contents of grain however, opposite was true for protein contents of grains collected from the crop sown under higher plant densities. It was concluded that application of fertilizer at 250 kg N ha -1 and 15 kg Zn ha -1 and the sowing of crop at plant density of 99900 plants ha -1 showed