Abstract

Cereal crops are more nutrient and moisture-dependent than other crops. Maize (Zea mays L.) is the world's most popular cereal crop for daily consumption and India's third-largest grain crop after rice and wheat. Maize is susceptible to fertilizer treatments particularly nitrogen, and moisture. Maize requires a huge amount of nitrogen fertilizer, as well as a lot of moisture in the soil for better growth and production. In view of the above findings, a field trial was conducted in sandy loam soil at Centurion University of Technology and Management's Bagusala Research Farm in Gajapati, Odisha during rabi season of 2021–22 to analyze the effect of mulching and nitrogen on maize growth and productivity in the rabi season. A split-plot design with three replications was used for the research in which three levels of straw mulching (no mulching, straw mulching @ 2.5 t/ha and @ 5 t/ha) as main plots and four levels of nitrogen [75, 100, 125 and 150% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN)] as the sub plots were included. The research findings indicated that the application of straw mulching @ 5 t/ha and 150% RDN recorded the best growth parameters and yield attributes and yield among all other combinations of mulching and nitrogen levels. The application of straw mulching @ 5t/ha and 150% RDN resulted maximum grain yield (7.26 t/ha) and stover yield (9.11 t/ha) with a conclusion that straw mulching along with nitrogen fertilizer play a vital role in boosting the growth and productivity of maize.