Effect of date of sowing and nitrogen management on yield, nitrogen uptake and soil-nitrogen balance in rice-green gram-maize crop sequence under rainfed condition in Assam

A field experiment was conducted at the farm of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Tinsukia, Assam during 2016-17 and 2017-18, to study the effect of sowing dates and N management practices on yield, N uptake and soil-nitrogen balance in rice-green gram-maize crop sequences under rainfed upland conditions. The experiment was laid out in factorial RBD with three replications. The treatment consisted of four date of sowings and N management. Results revealed that all the three crops sown early had shown significantly higher grain yield and N uptake than the crops sown late. Application of 50% N as inorganic along with vermicompost @ 1.0 t/ha resulted significantly higher grain yield and N uptake as compared to other N management practices. Moreover, application of 50% N as inorganic along with vermicompost @ 1.0 t/ha registered the highest net gain in soil available N irrespective of sowing dates at the end of two years of cropping sequence.