INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE & BIOLOGY 1560–8530/2004/06–2–260–263 http://www.ijab.org Effectiveness of Farmyard Manure, Poultry Manure and Nitrogen for Corn (Zea mays L.) Productivity TASNEEM KHALIQ, TARIQ MAHMOOD, JAVED KAMAL AND AMIR MASOOD† Departments of Agronomy and †Agriculture Economics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad–38040, Pakistan ABSTRACT Two corn hybrids i.e. Pioneer 3062 and Pioneer 3012 were tested with farmyard and poultry manure along with urea in a field experiment carried out on a sandy clay loam soil. The two hybrids differed significantly in number of cobs per plant, 1000- grain weight and grain yield. On the other hand, harvest index remained unaffected by treatments. Hybrid pioneer 3062 performed better with respect to all parameters, except number of grains per cob. Combined use of poultry manure and urea performed the best amongst all treatments. Key Words: Farmyard manure; Poultry Manure; Nitrogen; Corn INTRODUCTION Corn is a multipurpose crop, provides food for human, feed for animals and poultry and fodder for livestock. It is a rich source of raw material for the industry where it is being extensively used for the preparation of cornstarch, corn, dextrose, corn syrup, corn flakes etc. In conventional Agriculture, farmers apply high doses of fertilizers and chemical plant protection measures to realize high crop yield. The enhanced crop yield by chemical fertilizers and pesticides is beyond doubt, however, their indiscriminate use is causing problems such as soil structure deterioration, ground water pollution, higher nitrate in vegetables and some times very high investment which makes the system unstable (FAO, 1978). During the last decade, crop yield in Pakistan has been declining despite increased inputs of fertilizers, pesticides and due to the use of synthetic or composite varieties, which have less potential as compared to the hybrid corn (Njeru, 1983). The potential of any variety can only be fully exploited by judicious use of inputs, proper plant protection measures and sufficient irrigations at critical growth stages. So, agricultural scientists are engaged to establish an agricultural system, which can lower production cost and conserve the natural resources. Therefore, recent interest in manuring has re-emerged because of high fertilizer prices and importance of green manure, farmyard manure and other types of manures maintaining long-term soil productivity besides meeting timely requirement of nutrients. There is also a positive interaction between the combination of organic manures and urea as nitrogen source (Bocchi & Tano, 1994). Keeping this in view, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of corn hybrids under the combined use of organic and inorganic fertilizers. MATERIALS AND METHODS A field study was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, during the autumn season of 2000. The experiment was laid out according to RCBD with factorial arrangement having three replications and a net plot size as 9 x 2.8 m. The treatments included two maize hybrids Pioneer-3062, Pioneer-3012 and fertilizer levels were control, whole N (200 kg ha -1 ) as urea, whole N (200 kg ha -1 ) as farmyard manure (36.63 t ha -1 ), whole N (200 kg ha -1 ) as poultry manure (13.79 t ha -1 ), half N (100 kg ha -1 ) as FYM (18.32 t ha -1 )+ 100 kg N ha -1 as urea, half N (100 kg ha -1 ) as P.M. (6.90 t ha -1 ) + 100 kg N ha -1 as urea. The soil texture of the experimental site was sandy clay loam and the chemical analysis of soil is given in Table I. The crop was sown on 02 August 2000 using seed rate of 30 kg ha -1 in 70 cm apart rows with the help of a single row drill. A basal dose of NPK @ 200-100-100 kg ha -1 in the form of urea, TSP, SOP, FYM and poultry manure was applied. FYM and PM were analyzed (Table II) and dose of P and K were adjusted including quantity of P and K coming from FYM and poultry manure. Half doses of N from urea and full dose of P, K, FYM and poultry manure were applied at the time of second irrigation according to the treatments. The interplant distance was maintained at 20 cm by thinning the surplus plants at the time of four leaves stage. All other agronomic practices were kept normal and uniform in the treatments. The crop was harvested on November 07, 2000. The observations which recorded during the course of study were days taken to 50% tasseling, Number of cobs per plant, Number of grains per cob, 1000- grain weight (g), grain yield (t ha -1 ) and Harvest index (%).