~ 990 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2020; 8(1): 990-996 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2020; 8(1): 990-996 © 2020 IJCS Received: 13-11-2019 Accepted: 17-12-2019 Ananya Chakraborty Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India Sritama Biswas Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India Pintoo Bandopadhyay Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India Srijani Maji Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India Corresponding Author: Ananya Chakraborty Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India Profiling nitrogen use efficiency in QPM, hybrid and composite maize cultivars Ananya Chakraborty, Sritama Biswas, Pintoo Bandopadhyay and Srijani Maji DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/chemi.2020.v8.i1m.8375 Abstract A two year investigation during rabi seasons between 2017-2019 at Mondouri farm, BCKV, West Bengal, was conducted in split plot design, replicated thrice. Main plot treatments comprised maize cultivars - i) V1: HQPM4 (QPM), ii) V2: Shresta (Single cross hybrid) and (iii) V3: NAC 6004 (Composite); in the sub plot there was 6 nutrient schedules viz- i) T1: control, ii) T2: RDF, iii) T3: RDN75 + Vermicompost @ 2 t/ha, iv) T4: T3+ Azotobacter @ 2kg/ha, v) T5: T4+ Zn, vi) T6: RDN50 + Vermicompost @ 2 t/ha + Azotobacter @ 2kg/ha + Zn. NUE trends of PFP, AUE and PE for both years followed in ARE values of grain and total biomass. Addition of vermicompost in T3 resulted in improved NUE over RDF in second year. T5 had highest yield and NUE indices. T6 bettered its own NUE indices over the first year which underpins compounding effects in organic nutrients. Keywords: Maize cultivars, N schedules, NUE, uptake, yield Introduction Cereals cater the key sustenance in most of the diets and comprise over 73% of the total world harvested area supporting 60% of the global food production (Das et al., 2012) [3] . The spectrum of uses for cereals 43.47% figure out as food, 32.61% as feed and 21.73% for other industrial uses (FAO 2013) [5] . Maize, a C4 plant, enjoys more efficient photosynthates conversion. Maize also finds application in industry in a host of non-food applications (Murdia et al., 2016) [15] . In the shrinking water scenario natural resource management pivots more on the issue and Maize is the potential crop with a water productivity of 0.363 kg/M 3 which is more than that of summer rice 0.25 kg/M 3 (Kumari et al., 2017) [13] . By growing Maize farmers save 90% of water, 70% of power compared to paddy). To address the protein malnutrition among children in the developing countries, breeding for enhanced protein content in maize resulted in advent of Quality Protein Maize (Prasanna et al., 2001) [17] while also improving its agronomic and consumer characteristics (Gunaratna et al., 2019) [8] . India would require 45 MMT of Maize by year 2022 and Maize qualifies as potential crop for doubling farmer's income Maize a source of more than 3,500 products including specialized Maize like QPM “Quality Protein Maize” (FICCI 2018) [6] . After the promulgation of New Seed Policy in late 1980s, many private seed companies came into operation and started producing and marketing hybrid maize. The overall Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) in maize crop in India is about 60 per cent. The Government of India has set the goal of 100 per cent seed replacement in hybrid crops like maize. Some of the states have already reached the level of 100 per cent SRR, particularly where the farmers have adopted hybrid maize while the unaffordable farmers in many states still prefer to grow local or composite varieties, which are mainly retained for domestic consumption. In Rajasthan and Gujarat, it is almost equal preference for composite and hybrids, as in tribal or underdeveloped regions, farmers prefer local/composite varieties, and in developed regions, hybrids are cultivated for commercial purposes (Kumar et al., 2013) [11] . The rapid diffusion of maize hybrids as well as relatively high dose of fertilizers application are often considered to be the driving force for better yield in high potential zone. When fertilizer was applied to hybrids, the resulting yield grain was much higher (120%) than that of OPVs grown with fertilizer (Kumar et al., 2013) [11] . Nitrogen addition through inorganics has its due effect on environment and emissions as reported by many workers.