Effect of integrated nutrient management on yield attributing characters and productivity of maize in acid Inceptisols

To investigate the continuous effect of inorganic fertilizers and organic manures, an integrated nutrient management practices on maize was initiated since the year 2010 in acid Inceptisols. The field is situated in College of Agriculture, OUAT, Bhubaneswar. Maize is the 17th crop in the sequence (kharif 2016). The integrated nutrient management practices include i) soil test dose (STD) @ 130-36-70-20 kg N-P2O5-K20-SO4 ha-1 as pure inorganic source ii) Combination of inorganic with organic in the form of either FYM @5 t ha-1 or vermicompost @2.5 t ha-1, iii) inclusion of microbial inoculant / bio fertiliser (Azotobacter, Azospirillum and PSB (1:1;1) and soil amendment in the form lime @ 0.2lime requirement (LR) compared with iv) Absolute control i.e. without any fertilisation. The treatment with the inclusion of inorganics, organics (FYM/VC), biofertilizers and lime proved to be the best package of practices in terms of relative growth of maize, root density, yields attributing characters. Without application of any organic manure there was a 53% yield loss in the chemical fertilizer treated plot and only 8.3% yield advantage of INM practices including bio fertiliser over only organic and inorganic combination. STD + FYM + BF + L has showed highest plant height at 43, 55 and 100 days after sowing (2.77, 4.85 and 2.29 cm respectively). The root density (0.86 g/cc) and yield parameters like length (18.5 cm) and diameter of cob (15cm), volume of cob (862.8 cm3), number of rows per cob (15), number of grains per cob (570) and test weight (326) was also found to be highest with this treatment. The relative agronomic efficiency, uptake of nutrients and the apparent recovery of N (78%) and P (46.4%) were found to be highest in treatment with STD+FYM+BF+L. But in case of apparent potassium recovery the highest value was obtained in 50% STD + BF (110%). The result for the present study confirms that because the soil is acidic, it is mandatory to include lime as one of the key component of INM for better growth and greater crop yield. The continuous application of balanced nutrition through integration of lime, FYM or VC with microbial inoculants improved the growth parameter and yield attributing characters of maize crop.