EFFECT OF DIFFERENTIALLY MANAGED SOILS AND FERTILITY LEVELS ON FORAGE MAIZE PRODUCTION AND UPTAKE OF NUTRIENTS
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Date
1992
Authors
PATEL, V. G.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AAU, Anand
Abstract
A pot experiment was conducted to study the response, content and uptake of nutrients by forage maize (African tall) grown on differentially managed soils i.e. soils from Chiku plantation plot (S1), Nursery plot (S2), Animal nutrition plot (S3), Mango plantation plot (S4) and Normal cultivated plot (S5) with different fertilizer treatments comprising control (T1), Half of the recommended dose (T2), Recommended dose (T3) and Soil test recommendation (T4). Correlations among dry matter yield, organic carbon and different torms of nutrients in soils were also worked out. The present study revealed that the soil managed in animal nutrition plot was superior in respect of green forage and dry matter production over other soils studied. Application of fertilizer as per state recommendation (200+100+0 kg N, P2O5, K2O/ha) significantly increased the green forage and dry matter yields over control and half of the recommended dose but it was at par with soil test recommendation. It was observed that the yield obtained under the treatment T4 i.e. soil test recommendation was most economical than that of state recommended dose, as there is a saving of 25 to 50 kg P2O5/ha. The interaction effect of T x S was significant for dry matter yield. The N, P and K contents and their uptakes by maize were significantly affected by differentially managed soils while the effect of fertilizer treatment on N and P contents was not significant. However, K content in maize was decreased significantly with fertilizer application. The highest uptake of N, P and K (288.59, 479.96 and 714.91 mg/pot, respectively) was observed under T3S3 interaction as it produced the highest dry matter yield. The values of N, P and K uptakes by maize were increased with the increase in fertility levels upto recommended dose. But the values of nutrient uptakes under the treatment T3 i.e. recommended dose were at par with those under soil test recommendation. Dry matter yield of forage maize positively and significantly correlated with organic carbon (r=0.564), organic-N (r=0.504), available-N (r=0.487) , total-N (r=0.498) and available-P (r=0.516). Positive and significant correlations were also obtained among the different forms of N, P and K in soil after harvest of the crop except between water soluble-K and exchangeable-K. It can be concluded that fertilizer application through soil test recommendation gives economical yield of forage maize with more or less same nutrients removals than state recommended dose as it helps in minimizing the cost of production. The highest forage yield obtained with the soil from animal nutrition plot indicated that the soil management practices which resulted in build up of organic higher matter and thereby better fertility status helped in y(crop production and larger removals of nutrients. The correlation study also confirmed the validity of total-N and available-P used as indices for determining nutrient supplying capacity of the Anand soil.
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Keywords
Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, A Study