EFFECT OF NEB (NITROGEN EFFICIENCY FOR BIOAVAILABILITY) ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.)

Abstract

Nitrogen Efficiency for Bioavailability (NEB) is now applied to maximize its uptake and decrease environmental impact by decreasing usage of urea fertilizer. It is a blend of natural root exudates, which helps to increase microbial activities in the soil. Using NEB, plants get more of the nitrogen for longer period of time which helps to give significant growth advantages of plants. An experiment was conducted in the research field of BWMRI, Dinajpur (AEZ 1) to find out the appropriate dose of NEB for maximizing the yield of maize. There were four treatments of NEB: a) Seed treatment with NEB @ 6ml/kg seed + NEB @1.5ml/L foliar application at 35 DAS, b) Seed treatment with NEB @6mL/kg seed + 1mL/L foliar application at 35 DAS, c) Seed treatment with NEB @6mL/kg seed + 1mL/L foliar application at 35 DAS + at 71 DAS, d) Seed treatment with NEB @ 6ml/kg seed + NEB @1.5ml/L foliar application at 35 DAS + at 71 DAS with Control (No NEB). BWMRI Hybrid Maize-2 was used as the test crop. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. NEB treatments significantly affected the growth and yield contributing characters i.e., plant height at 98 DAS, plant height at 181 DAS, plants per hectare, cobs per plant, length per cob, cob diameter, lines per cob, grains per cob, grain weight per cob, cob fresh weight, 1000 grain weight etc. except leaves per plant, plants fresh weight, plants dry weight of maize plants. NEB treatments significantly affected the grain yield of maize plant. The highest grain yield (17.72 t/ha) was recorded in T5 treatment, and the lowest grain yield (13.79 t/ha) was recorded in T2 treatment. Grain yield increased by 17.43% in T5 treatment compared to NEB control plots. This result suggests that seed treatment with NEB @ 6ml/kg seed + NEB @1.5ml/L foliar application at 35 DAS and 71 DAS is the appropriate dose for achieving higher yield of maize and reducing environmental hazards.