Effects of different tillage and fertilizer treatments on growth and yield components of maize

Field experiment was conducted at the experimental site of National Agriculture Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan, during spring season of 2009. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates arranged in a split-plot configuration. Tillage method constituted the main-plots, which included: deep tillage (DT), conventional tillage (CT) and zero tillage (ZT). Whereas, four fertilizer treatments included; control, 10,000 kg ha FYM, 200-100-100 NPK kg ha and combination of 200-100-50 NPK kg ha + 10,000 kg ha FYM. Significant differences in the plant height and yield components of maize i.e. grains cob; 1000-grain weight, grain yield and dry matter yield were observed under three tillage methods. Deep tillage had the best results and produced taller plants, yielded more grains cob, improved 1000-grain weight, that resulted in maximum (6118 kg ha) grain yield and the highest (21732 kg ha ) dry matter yield, followed by conventional tillage. The zero tillage treatment produced the shortest plants with less grain cob. The 1000-grain weight was the lowest (242 g) under this treatment that resulted in minimum (5145 kg ha) grain yields; likewise, dry matter yield decreased significantly due to shortest (179 cm) plant heights. The NPK fertilizer application combined with FYM produced the tallest (191 cm) plants thus produced the highest dry matter yield as compared to discrete application of NPK and FYM treatment under deep tillage methods. Similar trends were observed in the grain yield and other components of maize under conventional and zero tillage. Results on application of organic and inorganic fertilizers further revealed that the increase in average per hectare yield can be obtained if soil fertility is maintained through their combined use. Keyword: Farm yard manure, grain yield, inorganic fertilizer, tillage methods. 1