GROWTH AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF CORN APPLIED WITH FERTILIZER AT DIFFERENT GROWTH STAGES

Abstract

A field experiment on the growth and yield of corn was conducted to study the effect of boron fertilizer levels applied at its different growth stages. A hybrid variety of corn known as Pioneer was used in the study. It made use of a two-factorial Experiment in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. There were four (4) treatment combinations applied at three (3) growth stages of corn. A highly significant effect has been noted on grain yield when corn plants were treated with different levels of boron at different stages of plant growth. The treatment combination 1.6 kg/ha of boron fertilizer applied three times at three stages of growth, greatly improved the yield of corn than the other treatments. Furthermore, three foliar applications of boron fertilizer in vegetative and reproductive stages gave the highest corn yield.