Abstract
NITROGEN RESPONSE, NUTRIENT UPTAKE BY THE CROP AND POST HARVEST SOIL FERTILITY STATUS IN SPECIALITY CORN AS INFLUENCED BY NITROGEN FERTILIZATION UNDER PONGAMIA + MAIZE AGRISILVI SYSTEM

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2011 at the Student’s Farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad on red sandy loam soils to study the effect of nitrogen management in speciality corn under Pongamia + maize agri-silvi system. Post harvest soil available nitrogen was significantly higher in all the treatments than control. Whereas, maximum available N and K in soil was recorded with 120 kg N ha-1. Though available P in soil observed under 120 kg N ha- 1 was maximum, it was statistically at par with 90 kg N ha-1. Post harvest soil available nutrients (N, P & K) were found unaffected by the different types of corn. Similarly, the maximum nutrient uptake (N, P & K) was also registered at 120 kg ha-1, which was significantly higher than 60 and 90 kg N ha-1. Sweet corn recorded significantly higher nitrogen uptake than the other two types of corn. Likewise, P & K uptake was also maximum in sweet corn but statistically on par with baby corn regarding P uptake and with popcorn regarding K uptake. The nitrogen response decreased gradually with increase in levels of nitrogen from 60 to 120 kg N ha-1 in all the types of corn. The maximum nitrogen response was observed with 60 kg ha -1 .Whereas, minimum nitrogen response was resulted with 120 kg ha-1.