2522 NEUPANE ET AL Environment & Ecology 28 (4A) : 2522—2524, 2010 © Copyright by MKK Publication 2010 ISSN 0970-0420 Effect of Nitrogen Sources and Spacing on Yield and Profitability of Baby Corn (Zea mays L.) M. P. NEUPANE*, R. K. SINGH, GAURAV MAHAJAN AND M. K. YADAV Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University Varanasi 221005, India E-mail : mpneupane66@yahoo.com *Correspondence Abstract Field experiment conducted at Varanasi in 2008 and 2009 revealed that 75% N through urea + 25% N through FYM, spacing of 40 cm × 15 cm were found to be best source of nitrogen and spacing, respectively, and their combination N 2 S 1 (75% N through urea + 25% N through FYM + 40 cm × 15 cm spacing) emerged superior over all other treatment combinations in relation to yield and yield attributes and economic returns for cultivation of baby corn under Varanasi conditions. Key words : Baby corn, Economics, Nitrogen sources, Row spacing. Baby corn is young ear of corn plant (Zea mays L.) harvested just at the time of silk emergence (1). It is a new economic product of maize and is little known to the maize grower of India. The yields of crop are affected by nutrition given to the crop and extent of plant spacing. Also the yield of a crop is the resultant of final plant spacing under conditions of sufficient soil moisture and nutrients, so widely spacing is nec- essary to utilize other growth factors efficiently. Maize is an exhaustive crop and requires heavy application of nitrogen along with phosphorus and potassium. The importance of nutrient supply (N, P and K) in maize is further aggravated when it is grown for baby corn production because of high plant density and extremely short duration of crop (2). Integrated nutri- ent supply including organic (FYM) and inorganic fertilizers improved the productivity of major crop- ping systems along with maintaining better soil qual- ity on cost effective basis (3). The high economic return and value addition of baby corn are increasing its popularity. Depending on agro-climatic conditions 3—4 crops of baby corn can be taken from the same field in a year giving good profit per hectare per sea- son (4). Present investigation was therefore under- taken to study the effect of nitrogen sources and row spacing on yield and profitability of baby corn. Methods The experiment was conducted during pre- kharif season of 2008 and 2009 at the agricultural research farm, Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agricul- tural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. The treatments comprised combination of four sources of nitrogen N 1 (100% N through urea), N 2 (75% N through urea + 25% N through FYM), N 3 (50% N through urea + 50% N through FYM) and N 4 (25% N through urea + 75% N through FYM) and two row spacing S 1 (40 cm × 15 cm), S 2 (30 cm × 15 cm). The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications. The soil of the experi- mental plot was sandy clay loam in texture, neutral in reaction (pH 7.4), low in available nitrogen (182 kg/ ha), medium in available phosphorus (13.86 kg/ha) and available potassium (260.45 kg/ha). Baby corn cultivar Malviya makka-2 was sown each year in the rows based on spacing treatments on 12 May and 14 May during 2008 and 2009, respectively. FYM and fertilizers were calculated based on treatment. Urea, diammonium phosphate and nuriate of potash were taken as source of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash to supply the crop with 120-60-60 N-P 2 O 5 -K 2 O kg/ha. Farm yard manure (FYM) was used as an organic source of nitrogen and applied on the basis nitrogen content in its dry weight as per treatment. Full dose of FYM, phosphorus, potash and half dose of nitro- gen were applied at the time of sowing by side dress- ing as basal application. Remaining half dose of N was top dressed at knee high stage. During both the