Effects of On Farm Seed Priming and Application Time of Nitrogen on Some Growth Indices and Yield on a Maize Cultivar (Sc704) in Asadabad

To study the effects of On-farm seed priming and split application of nitrogen fertilizer on growth indices of maize (Sc704) an experiment was conducted in Asadabad, agricultural research in complete block design in factorial arrangement with three replication in 2011. First factor was On-farm seed priming in 3 levels (Prime with a water, Prime with 0.05 zinc solution for 14 hours and no prime) and second factor was nitrogen application time in 5 levels (without nitrogen application, all nitrogen at planting time, 2 stages application (plant time and before tasselling), 3 stages application (plant time, at 4-6 leaf stage and before tasselling) and 4 stages application (plant time, at 4-6 leaf stage, before tasseling and milking stage). The results showed the emergence characteristics, maximum leaf area index and crop growth rate, net assimilation rate, relative growth rate in 80 days after planting, dry mater accumulation and grain yield were affected by treatment levels at 1%. The highest crop growth rate, net assimilation rate was in treatment of nitrogen applied in four stages with 69.7, 13.3 % increase and the maximum leaf area index, relative growth rate, dry mater accumulation and grain yield were of triple stage application nitrogen to the 53.3, 14.2, 52.1, 60.7 percent respectively ratio increased to no application nitrogen treatment. Seed priming with Zn solution foresaid characteristics in comparison with no priming treatment increased 24.8, 6.6, 19.5, 3.5, 14.2, 22 percent, respectively. Interaction results showed that the highest grain yield was found in the prime treatments with Zn solution and three-stage application of nitrogen (1079.6 grams per square meter). The highest and lowest correlation with grain yield was observed in the maximum leaf area index (r=0.89^**) and net assimilation rate (r=0.56^*). The results showed that priming seeds with three-stage application of nitrogen fertilizer improved  growth indicators and grain yield in maize Sc 704.