Effect of NPKS and Zn application on growth, yield, economics and quality of baby corn

A field experiment was conducted during the pre-kharif season of 2012 and 2013 at Varanasi to study the effect of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) (100% and 125% recommended dose of fertilizer), sulfur (0, 25 and 50kg S ha(-1)) and zinc (0, 5 and 10kg Zn ha(-1)) fertilization on growth, yield, economics and quality of baby corn. Growth attributes like plant height, number of green leaves, stem girth, dry matter plant(-1), crop growth rate (CGR), chlorophyll content of leaves, yield attributes like number of baby cobs plant(-1), cob and corn weight, length and girth of corn as well as yield of cob, corn and green fodder besides gross return, net return and benefit:cost ratio were increased significantly with application of 125% RDF (recommended dose of fertilizer) over 100% RDF. Increasing level of sulfur application up to 50kg S ha(-1) had a marked effect on all the growth characters, yield attributes and yield. Each increment of zinc application up to 10kg Zn ha(-1) correspondingly improved growth, yield attributes, cob yield, corn yield and green fodder yield as well as gross return, net return and the benefit:cost ratio.