Direct Seeded and Transplanted Maize: Effects of Planting Date and Age of Seedling on the Yield and Yield Attributes

An experiment was conducted at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Jamalpur, Bangladesh during rabi (winter) 2003-2004 to study the performance of maize varieties at different planting dates and ages of seedling. The experiment site is located at 24°56’11’’ N latitude and 89°55’54’’ E longitude and at an altitude of 16.46 m. The duration of the study period was November 2003 to May 2004. Design of the experiment was split-split plot having 3 (three) replications assigning planting date in the main plot (factor A), variety in the sub plot (factor B) and age of seedling in the sub-sub plot (factor C). Five planting dates (20 November, 30 November, 10 December, 20 December and 30 December), two maize varieties (BARI maize-6 and Pacific-11) and three ages of seedlings (Direct seeding, 14-day old and 21-day old seedlings) were included as treatments in the experiment. Seedlings were raised in the dry bed underneath polythene sheet nursery. The results revealed the variety Pacific-11 produced significantly higher grain yield in the earlier 20 and 30 November plantings irrespective of direct seeding and age of seedlings. There was no significant difference in respect of grain yield in the earlier 20 and 30 November plantings with all seedling ages but planting of 14-day old seedling the crop may be harvested about 7 days earlier, while planting of 21-day old seedling crop may be harvested about 12 days earlier than direct seeding. Transplanting of 14-day old seedling at 10, 20 and 30 December produced higher grain yield compared to both direct seeding and 21-day old seedling along with 5-6 days short field duration than direct seeding. This early harvest may save the crop from natural vulnerability of hailstorm and rains, and may help in early establishment of the next crop like sesame, aus rice, mungbean, blackgram, jute etc.