Soil Test Based Fertilizer Nitrogen Recommendations for Yield Targets of Kharif Maize under Alfisols

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1 270 Journal of Pharmaceutical, Chemical and Biological Sciences ISSN: Impact Factor (SJIF): December 2014-February 2015; 2(4): Available online at Online published on February 28, 2015 Original Research Article Soil Test Based Fertilizer Nitrogen Recommendations for Yield Targets of Kharif Maize under Alfisols Y.Y. Giri, D.V. Ramana Reddy*, D. Balaguravaiah Dept. of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India * Corresponding Author Received: 20 February 2015 Revised: 25 February 2015 Accepted: 27 February 2015 ABSTRACT A maize experiment was conducted in an alfisol at Hyderabad with 21 NPK treatments and vermi compost (VC) for deriving soil test based fertilizer doses for attaining yield targets. Treatments consisted of 4 levels of N: 0, 60, 120, 180; P 2 O 5 : 0, 30, 60, 90; K 2 O: 0, 20, 40, 60 kg/ha and VC: 0, 2.5 and 5 t/ha. The treatments comprised of 18 fertilized and 3 unfertilized (control) combinations of N, P 2 O 5, K 2 O and VC (Randomized Block Design). Based on fertilizer effects on yield, soil and plant nutrients, nutrient requirement (NR), contribution from soil (SE), fertilizer (FE) and vermin compost (VCE) were derived. Using this basic data i.e., NR, SE, FE and VCE, fertilizer adjustment equations were derived for prescribing nitrogen doses based on soil test values of nitrogen for attaining yield targets. There was considerable reduction in the quantities of fertilizer N due to IPNS Keyword: STCR; maize; fertilizer adjustment equations; prescriptions INTRODUCTION Fertilizer use is a major contributor factor for higher maize production in India. The fertilizer requirement of a crop depends to a larger extent on the native soil fertility and hence, the prescription of doses should always be made by examine the relationships of soil test values with applied fertilizer doses and crop yield by Velayutham and Raniperumal [1]. In India, the soils are deficient in several nutrients and the efficiency of added fertilizers cannot be obtained by general recommendations. There is a need for a rational basis for evolving fertilizer schedules for different crops and areas based on soil testing and analysis for different nutrients. With the establishment of a soil testing laboratory in 1955, the soil test crop

2 271 response correlation work was started at Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi by Muhr et al., [2]. Indian soils are low in available N and require large quantities for crops to get higher production. It is essential to evaluate N supplying capacity of a soil before going for fertilizer N recommendation. Innumerable chemical and biological methods have been proposed for evaluation of soil N availability. One of the important chemical methods of N developed was based on alkaline KMnO 4 distillation by Subbaiah and Asija [3]. The authors found a significant correlation between KMnO 4 oxidisable N and paddy and wheat responses. Bajaj et al. found that the alkaline KMnO 4 method was significantly correlated with percent yield of wheat and paddy crops [4]. Dubey et al. and Pathak et al. also confirmed the superiority of alkaline KMnO 4 method by stating that it gives highest correlation with percent grain yield and N uptake by paddy [5&6]. Subbaiah and Bajaj revealed that paddy yields were highly correlated with organic matter content of soils [7]. Sahrawat described on a relationship between available soil N, total-n, organic carbon percent, N uptake and dry matter yield and obtained a close correlation between all available indices of soil N and N uptake by rice while the correlation coefficient was found to be less for dry matter yield [8]. An attempt is made in this paper to optimize N fertilizer doses based on available soil test values for attaining yield targets of maize in semi-arid alfisol in Hyderabad. MATERIAL AND METHODS A field experiment was conducted on maize during kharif 2012out at College Farm, Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (Now PJTSAU), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana state, India, which was based on STCR- fertility gradient approach developed by Ramamoorthy et al. [9]. The site is geographically situated at 17019' N Latitude, ' E Longitude and at an altitude of meters above mean sea level. To develop fertility gradient, the field was divided into 3 equal strips viz., I, II and III. An exhaust crop of sorghum (CSH-9) was grown to enable through interaction between the nutrients in the soil and added fertilizers. After the harvest, each gradient strip was divided into 21 plots. The treatments consisted of 4 levels of N- 0, 60, 120, 180; P2O5-0, 30, 60, 90; K2O- 0, 20, 40, 60 kg/ha and VC- 0, 2.5 and 5 t/ha. The treatments comprised of 18 fertilized and 3 unfertilized (control) combinations of N, P 2 O 5, K 2 O and VC (Randomized Block Design). Maize (DHM-117) was grown as test crop by proper recommended cultural practices. At harvest, by using grain yield, N uptake, initial soil N status and fertilizer doses applied, the basic data viz., nutrient requirement (NR) kg q-1, per cent contribution from soil (SE), fertilizer (FE) and vermi compost (VCE) were estimated for making fertilizer nitrogen recommendation as described by Reddy et al. [10]. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The initial soil available N value was Kg ha-1 after fertility gradient experiment, the soil available nitrogen values recorded in strip I, II and III were 257, 282 and 332 Kg ha-1 respectively. The range and mean values of post-harvest soil test available N, uptake N, grain and dry matter yield of maize crop experiment are given in Table 1. The Postharvest soil test available nitrogen ranged from 220 to 352 kg ha-1 with mean of 270 kg ha-1 in strip I, 284 kg ha-1 in strip II and 297 in strip III. The N uptake ranged between 42.9 and kg ha-1 from strip I to III. The range of grain yield from strip I to III was 23.6 to 60.4 q ha-1 with mean of 46.4 q ha-1 in strip I, q ha-1 in strip II and q ha-1 in strip III. The range of dry matter yield from strip I to III was 37.4 to 98.4 q ha-1 respectively. Enhancement in the yield is due to direct contribution of plant nutrients from vermi compost to the crop and

3 272 improving properties of soil which enhance the efficiency of soil and fertilizer nutrient. The basic data for fertilizer requirement for targeted yield of maize are furnished in Table 2. The NR (kg q-1), SE %, FE % and VCE % values for nitrogen were 2.4, 18.0, 55.6 and 37.3 for strip I, 2.69, 22.6, 73.3 and 56.0 for strip II, 2.86, 24.2, 80.5 and 56 for strip III and for the pooled over gradient were 2.67, 21.6, 69.8 and 47.5 respectively. The data have been transformed in the form of simple equations and depicted in Table 2. The study indicated that based on the basic data and targeted yield equations, we could attain response of 15.6 kg of maize yield per kg of nutrients applied in alfisols. The results are in convergence with those reported by Ramamurthy et al., (1967) [9], Rani Perumal et al., (1991)[11].The results indicates that nitrogen contributions from fertilizer sources are more than from the soil. Using fertilizer adjustment equations a ready reckoner showing fertilizer nitrogen recommendation at varying soil test values for attaining yield target of 50, 60 and 70 q ha-1 of maize is given in Table 3. The results clearly indicate that when the initial soil available nitrogen status were range from 140 to 440 kg ha-1 the sole doses were range from 148 to 55 kg ha-1 for 50 q ha-1, 186 to 93 kg ha-1 for 60 q ha-1 and 225 to 132 kg ha-1 for 70 q ha-1. These fertilizer doses were get reduced when vermi-compost 2.5 t ha-1 and 5 t ha- 1. Table 1: Post-harvest soil test available N status, Plant N uptake and grain and dry matter yield of test crop experiment Strip Post-harvest Soil test N (kg ha -1 ) Plant N Uptake (kg ha -1 ) Grain Yield (q ha -1 ) Dry matter Yield (q ha -1 ) Range Mean Range Mean Range Mean Range Mean I II III Table 2: Basic data and Targeted yield equations of maize Nutrient Basic data Targeted yield equations Respons e ratio (kg/kg) NR (kg/q) SE (%) FE (%) VCE (%) Strip I Nitrogen = 4.40* T * SN -0.67* VC Strip II Nitrogen = 3.67* T * SN -0.67* VC Strip III Nitrogen = 3.55* T * SN -0.70* VC Pooled over gradients Nitrogen = 3.83* T * SN -0.68* VC Where, - Fertilizer nitrogen (kg ha -1 ), SN- Soil available nitrogen (kg ha -1 ), VC- Vermi-compost, T- Targeted yield (q ha -1 ), NR- Nutrient requirement, SE- Soil efficiency, FE- Fertilizer efficiency, VCEvermi-compost efficiency.

4 273 Table 3: Fertilizer nitrogen prescription (kg ha -1 ) at varying soil available N status for attaining yield targets of 50 q ha -1, 60 q ha -1 and 70 q ha -1 SN Fertilizer N doses for attaining yield targets T = 50 q/ha T = 60 q/ha T = 70 q/ha +2.5 VC +5 VC +2.5 VC +5 VC +2.5 VC +5 VC CONCLUSION In the present study, the ready reckoner was developed for kharif maize recommendation of nitrogen doses of fertilizer to obtain the targeted yield based on the soil test values. Application of nitrogen fertilizer based of general recommendations result into losses of nitrogen and increases the cost of cultivation. Targeted yield will obtain based on the given ready reckoner in this research experiment for kharif maize under alfisol soil of semi-arid tropic region. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors are grateful to ICAR for providing financial assistance under All India Coordinated Research Project on Soil Test Crop Response (AICRP on STCR) project during the study. REFERENCES 1. Velayutham M, Reddy KCK and Maruthi Sankar GR. An experimental evaluation of soil testing for fertilizer recommendation under the multiple cropping. ILRIS 1976; 25: Muhr GR, Datta NP, Subramoney M, Leley VK and Donahne RI. Soil testing in India. New Delhi:USAID; Subbaiah BV and Asija GL. A rapid procedure for the estimation of available nitrogen in soil. Current Science. 1956; 25: Bajaj JC, Gulati ML and Tamhane RU. Correlation studies of soil tests foe available nitrogen with nitrogen uptake and response of paddy and wheat. Journal of Indian Society of Soil Science 1967; 15:

5 Dubey SM, Omen PK and Khera MS. Evaluation of nitrogen soil tests. Fertilizer News 1972; 17 (6): Pathak AN, Tiwari KN and Misra MP. Evaluation of soil test nitrogen. Fertilizer News 1976; 21 (5): Subbaiah BV and Bajaj JC. Association of certain soil factors with higher paddy yields. Journal of Indian Society of Soil Science 1968; 16: Sahrawat KL. Assay of nitrogen supplying capacity of tropical rice soils. Plant and Soil 1982; 65 (1): Ramamoorthy B, Narasimhan RL and Dinesh RS. Fertilizer application for specific yield targets of Sonara-64. Indian Farming 1967; 5: Reddy KCK, Maruthi Sankar, Syam Pasad I and Girija. Fourteenth progress report ( ) at AICRP for investigations on STCR, co-ordinators Report-II, CRIDA, Hyderabad, A.P, India; Rani P, Selvaraj MJ, Doraiswamy P and Baskaran S. Relationship between soil test methods and fractions of potassium in sorghum as a test crop. Journal of Indian Society of Soil Science 1991; 39: Cite this article as: Y.Y. Giri, D.V. Ramana Reddy and D. Balaguravaiah. Soil test based fertilizer nitrogen recommendations for yield targets of kharif maize under Alfisols. J Pharm Chem Biol Sci 2014; 2(4):