Yield Potentiality of Maize as Relay Crop with T. Aman Rice under Different Agronomic Management

The experiment was conducted at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, BARI, Ishwardi, Pabna, Bangladesh, during 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 to introduce maize as relay crop with T. Aman rice under different agronomic practices for determine the production potentials. The experiment was design split plot with three replications. The agronomic management practices included four plant spacing viz. S1=75 cm×20 cm (66666 plants/ha), S2=60 cm×20 cm (83333 plants/ha), S3=50 cm×20 cm (100000 plants/ha) and S4=40 cm×20 cm (125000 plants/ha) and four soil management practices viz. M1=soil mulching at 25 DAE, M2=earthing up at 25 DAE, M3=straw mulching at 25 DAE and M4= without earthing up and mulching (control). Seeds were relayed by dibbling manually in 10 days before the harvest of T. Aman rice. Results showed that an increasing plant spacing increased leaf area Index (LAI), total dry matter (TDM), crop growth rate (CGR) and light energy interception (LEI). Grain yield was higher in S3spacing (8.44 t/ha) than others (S48.11 t/ha, S27.34 t/ha and S16.89 t/ha). Among the soil management practices, M2increased LAI, TDM, CGR, LEI as well as grain yield. Moreover, M2and M1gave similar grain yield (8.22 t/ha and 8.02 t/ha), that were significantly greater than other two soil management practices (M37.55 t/ha and M46.98 t/ha). From the economic point of view, combination of S3M1gave better performance with gross margin of Tk. 95000/ha and BCR of 2.17. On the basis of results, S3M1combination was suitable for growing maize under relay sowing with T. Aman rice.