Effect of farm nutrient resources along with inorganic phosphorus (P) supplying fertilizers on high quality maize production

In order to evaluate the effect of organic and inorganic phosphorus (P) sources on quality attributes of maize crop, a field experiment was conducted in a neutral normal soil during June 2007. The experimental plot was located at Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India. The experimental soil has the pH of 7.2, EC 4 dSm-1 and the available phosphorus content is 8 kg ha-1.There were nine treatments imposed in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications with the plot size of 5 × 4 m. The treatments comprised the farm nutrient resources such as green manure, farmyard manure and vermicompost along with inorganic phosphate sources such as single super phosphate and di-ammonium phosphate. The different combinations included here were Control (T1), SSP alone (T2), SSP + GM at 10 t ha-1 (T3), SSP + FYM at 12.5 t ha-1 (T4), SSP +  VC at 0.5 t ha-1 (T5), DAP alone (T6), DAP + GM at 10 t ha-1 (T7), DAP + FYM at 12.5 t ha-1 (T8) and DAP + VC at 0.5 t ha-1 (T9). The recommended dose of phosphorus for maize crop is 62.5 kg ha-1.The treatments were replicated thrice in a randomized block design with the plot size of 5 × 4 m. The results of the experiment showed that the application of SSP + GM at 10 t ha-1 registered significant improvement in the quality parameters such as starch (60.25%), total sugars (4.41%) and crude protein content (8.03%) over other treatments. Key words: Maize, starch, total sugars, crude protein.