Application of Fish Waste Fertilizer on the Growth of Maize (Zea mays)

Abstract

Corn is an important cereal in the world and widely used as human consumption, livestock feed and even as raw material for industrial purposes. A study was carried out on the effect of fish waste fertilizer (FWF) on the growth of maize at UiTM Jasin Campus, Malacca. The experiment was carried out by using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) based on 5 treatments and 5 replications. The control treatment (T1) was 100% of NPK fertilizer, treatment 2 (T2) was 30% of NPK + 70% FWF, treatment 3 (T3) was 50% of NPK + FWF, treatment 4 (T4) was 70% of NPK + 30% FWF and treatment 5 (T5) was 100% FWF. The corn variety used was Leckat 592 and different doses of organic fertilizer were applied 5 times. The parameters used in this study were plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, stem girth and chlorophyll content. In this experiment, treatment 3 (50% of NPK + FWF) and treatment 4 (70% of NPK + 30% FWF) showed significant difference in leaf area and stem girth parameters, respectively. However, there are no significant differences of the treatments on plant height, number of leaves, and chlorophyll content. NPK fertilizer showed the highest mean numbers for the three parameters. Thus, from this study, combination of NPK fertilizer with fish waste fertilizer showed some significant in the growth of corn.