INTEGRATED EFFECT OF INORGANIC AND ORGANIC NITROGEN SOURCES ON SOIL FERTILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZE

Abstract

The present study was designed to assess the effect of organic materials, i.e., farm yard manure (FYM), poultry manure (PM) and sugar cane filter cake (FC) along with mineral nitrogen on yield and soil organic fertility. Our results indicated that among sole nitrogen (N) sources, highest grain yield was recorded from poultry manure. In the case of integrated N sources, maximum grain yield was obtained from 25% poultry manure + 75% mineral N source. Grain ear⁻¹ and 1000 grain weight was highest with the application of poultry manure among sole N sources. Highest grain ear⁻¹ and 1000 grain weight was observed from 25% poultry manure + 75% mineral N source. Application of poultry manure as sole N sources resulted maximum increase in soil total N and organic matter when compared with other sole N sources. Among N sources applied in different proportion, maximum total soil N was recorded from 25% poultry manure + 75% mineral N. We concluded from these experiments that integrated application of N sources in different proportion greatly improves the N economy and enhance crop productivity in low N soils.

Keywords:

• maize
• N sources
• farmyard manure
• poultry manure
• filter cake
• soil fertility