IMPACT OF FERTILIZER AND PLANTING DENSITY ON WEEDS POPULATION IN MAIZE CROP.

The experimental study was conducted to find out the influence of fertilizer and plant density on weed population in maize crop. The experiment was design in complete block design with three replications. Three levels of planting density i.e. 66000, 56000, and 46000 plants ha^-1 and different nitrogen levels including 200, 250, and 300 kg ha^-1 were used. In treatments, highest number of weeds (65.33 m^-2) was recorded in 300 kg N^-1 while the highest fresh weight (1960 kg ha^-1) and dry weight (520 kg ha^-1) of weeds were recorded in 300 kg N ha^-1 and also produced higher grains yield (6119 kg ha^-1) of maize. In planting density, the largest number of weeds (64.0 m^-2) was found where the planting density was 56,000 and maize grain yield was 5753 kg ha^-1. The plant density of 66,000 had 61.33 weeds m^-2 and maize grain yield as 5776 kg ha^-1. It can be concluded from this experiment that decreasing planting density and increasing nitrogen levels significantly enhanced weeds population and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]