The growth and yield of Zea Mays. Effects of an integrated nutrient management (PDF)

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Agrarian Studies, grade: 8.5, , course: Agronomy, language: English, abstract: The aim of this study is to study the effect of integrated nutrient management on the growth and yield of kharif Maize and to work out the economics of different nutrient management treatments.

As the chemical's fertilizers play an important role in plants life so that these chemicals should not be avoided completely as they are the potential sources of the high amount of nutrients in easily available forms. These fertilizers greatly affect enzymatic activities in the soil profile but poor management of the chemical fertilizers has a key role in lowering the yield productivity and deteriorate the soil health also. So, to achieve optimum crop production, there is a need to use the combination of organic sources, inorganic sources, bio-fertilizers.

Maize (Zea mays L.) requires the nutrients i.e., macronutrients as well as micronutrients for obtaining the higher crop growth and yield. The micronutrients content in organic manure may be sufficient to meet the crop requirement but the low soil fertility is the major problem to maintain sustainability in production. The application of organic manure do not produce optimum yield due to low nutrient status but they play a direct role in plant growth by the mineralization they provide the essential nutrients which furthermore improves the physical and biological properties of the soil.
The use of organic plays an important role in maintaining soil health due to the build-up of soil organic matter, beneficial microbes. "Biofertilizer" is a substance that contains living organisms. It promotes growth by increasing the supply or availability of primary nutrients to the host plant. These are not fertilizers because fertilizers directly increase soil fertility by adding nutrients. They add nutrients through the natural processes of fixing atmospheric nitrogen, solubilizing phosphorus, and stimulating plant growth through the synthesis of growth promoting substances. Azotobacter is dominant among the free-living forms of nitrogen fixers. It has been used extensively as a production technology in many countries and there were 20-29 percent increase in yield.

Hence, the judicious application of these combinations can sustain soil fertility and productivity. In general, scheduling of fertilizers is based on the individual nutrient requirement of the crop and the carry-over effect of manure and fertilizer applied to precede crop is ignored.