Description FODDER MAIZE A. CROP IMPROVEMENT I. SEASON AND VARIETIES Zone District/Season Month Varieties Irrigated All Districts Through out the year African tall II. PARTICULARS OF FODDER MAIZE VARIETIES PARTICULARS African Tall Parentage Composite Duration (Days) 60-70 Green fodder yield (t/ha) 35-40 Morphological characters Plant height (cm) 302.00 Number of leaves 13.30 Leaf length (cm) 81.30 Leaf breadth (cm) 8.15 Stem thickness (cm) 1.77 Leaf-stem ratio 0.21 Quality characters Crude protein (%) 9.80 Dry matter (%) 17.65 B. CROP MANAGEMENT 1. GREEN FODDER PRODUCTION 1. Soil All types of soil with good drainage. Does not come up well in flooded or water logged conditions. 2. Preparatory cultivation Plough the field twice with an iron plough and three or four times with country plough. Form ridges and furrows using a ridger, 30 cm apart and form beds of size 10 m2 or 20 m2 depending on the availability of water and slope of the land.\ 3. Nutrient management • Spread FYM or compost at 12.5 t/ha along with 10 packets of Azospirillum (2000 g) and 10 packets of Phosphobacteria (2000g) inoculum or 20 packets of Azophos (4000g) and incorporate the manure into the soil during ploughing. • Apply NPK fertilizers as per soil test recommendation as for as possible. If soil testing is not done, follow blanket recommendation of 30: 40: 20 kg N, P2O5 and K2 O / ha. Apply 30 kg N/ha at 30 days after sowing as top dressing. 4. Sowing • Seed treatment: Treat the seeds with Captan @ 2g/kg Carbaryl @ 200mg/kg-1 of seeds 24 hours before sowing.Then,Treat the seeds with 3 packets (600 g) Azospirillum inoculant and 3 packets (600 g) of Phosphobacteria or 6 packets of Azophos (1200 g) before sowing. • Spacing : 30 x 15 cm, • Seed rate : 20 kg/Acre 5. Water management Irrigate immediately after sowing and give life irrigation on the third day and thereafter once in 10 days. 6. Weed management First weeding at 25th DAS. Next hand weeding may be given as and when necessary. 7. Plant protection As per CIB&RC, insecticide is not recommended for the management of pests in fodder crops. No insecticide is registered/label claimed against the pests of fodder crops. 8. Harvest At 50% flowering (65-70 days after sowing) 9. Green fodder yield As green fodder under irrigated conditions, a pure crop yields about 35 to 40 t/ha of green fodder. Note: • *Fodder maize can be intercropped with fodder cowpea varieties CO 5 or CO (FC) 8 at 3:1 ratio and harvested together to provide balanced nutritious fodder. • TNAU vermicompost at 5 t/ha 75% recommended dose of fertilizer for intercropping of maize and cowpea produces green fodder yield of 105 t/ha/yr (3 crops/year) which is sufficient to maintain 7 adults and 3 calf 2. SEED PRODUCTION VARIETAL SEED PRODUCTION Land requirement • Land should be free of volunteer plants. The previous crop should not be the same variety or other varieties of the same crop. It can be the same variety if it is certified as per the procedures of certification agency. Isolation • For certified quality seed production leave a distance of 200 m all around the field from the same and other varieties of the crop. Seed rate • 20 kg/ha. Spacing • 60 x 20 cm (65 x 15 cm) Fertilizer requirement • Apply NPK @ 175 : 90 : 90 kg / ha 25 kg ZnSO4 / ha as basal application. Harvest • Seeds attained physiological maturity on 40th day after anthesis. Seed treatment • Treat the seeds with Carbendazim @ 2 g / kg of seed along with carbaryl @ 200 mg / kg of seed. • Treat the seeds with halogen mixture (CaOCl2 CaCO3 arappu leaf powder mixed in the ratio of 5:4:1 @ 3 g / kg as eco-friendly treatment. Storage • Store the seeds in gunny or cloth bags for short term storage (8 – 9 months) with seed moisture content of 10 – 12 %. • Store the seeds in polylined gunny bag for medium term storage (12 – 15 months) with seed moisture content of 8 – 10 %. • Store the seeds in 700 gauge polythene bag for long term storage (more than 15 months) with seed moisture content of less than 8 %.
