Effect of different tillage and earthing up practices on growth and productivity of maize crop (Zea mays L.) in Tarai region of Uttarakhand

Maize is the third most important cereal crop in the world as well as in India in terms of area and production. India is producing only 2.5% of the world maize production. India’s maize productivity is about half the world’s average, 1/5th of the productivity of the US and less than half of China, however, soil and climatic conditions of India are ideal for maize production. The low yield of maize in India may be due to poor agronomic practices of which most important are tillage and earthing up practices. So in order to find out the effect of different tillage and earthing up practices on growth and productivity of maize crop in tarai region of Uttarakhand, a field experiment was conducted during the kharif season, 2017 and 2019 at Pantnagar with three levels of tillage practices (T1- Conventional tillage,T2 - Minimum tillage and T3- Deep tillage) and 5 levels of earthing up practices (E1 - Earthing by Pant fertilizer band placement- cum-earthing machine, E2 - Earthing by Earther, E3- Manual Earthing, E4 - Earthing by cultivator and E5 - No earthing) in split plot design with three replications. Significantly higher values of growth attributes of maize were recorded in deep tillage treatment. The deep tillage recorded 9% higher grain yield as compared to conventional tillage treatment and 20% higher as compared to minimum tillage. The significantly higher values of growth attributes of maize were recorded in treatment earthing by pant fertilizer band placement cum earthing machine. The treatment earthing by pant fertilizer band placement cum earthing machine recorded 9.25% higher grain yield as compared to earthing by earther, 20.65% higher than manual earthing, 22% higher than earthing by cultivator and 36% higher than no earthing treatment. Thus the results of this study revealed that maize crop may be grown under deep tillage treatment along with earthing up by pant fertilizer band placement cum earthing machine for better growth and higher productivity in Tarai region of Uttarakhand and also be replicated in whole Indo Gangetic plains of India.