Effect of Adding Chelated Zinc and Vermicompost on Some Indicators of Maize Growth

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted for the fall season 2022 to grow a crop of yellow corn, zea mzys, class F1, in the Kala Agriculture field of the University of Babylon, in silt clay. The study included an investigation of the effect of adding chelated zinc and Vermicompost and the interaction between them on the growth indicators of maize, Where it included three levels of chelated zinc fertilizer (0, 5, 10) kg.H-1 and symbolized by symbols (Zn0, Zn1, Zn2) respectively for the first factor, while the second factor was the addition of Vermicompost with three levels (0, 10, 20) ton.H-1 and symbolized by the symbols (F0, F1, F2), respectively, and thus the number of transactions became 9 by 3 replications, so the number of experimental units became 27 experimental units. The experiment was carried out according to the RCBD random sectors design. The addition of chelated zinc to the Zn2 treatment gave the highest increase in the vegetative growth characteristics of plant height, chlorophyll index, leaf area, and dry weight of the vegetative total, as the values reached 189.60 cm, 53.92 Spad unit, 56.53 dm2, and 4.86 tons H-1 for each respectively. The addition of Vermicompost to treatment F2 gave the highest increase in vegetative growth indicators for each of the plant height 186.39 cm, chlorophyll index 50.75 spad unit, leaf area 52.87 dm2, and dry weight of the vegetative total 4.88 tons H-1. The dual interaction of chelated zinc and Vermicompost for Zn2F2 treatment gave the highest increase in the growth indicators of yellow corn represented by plant height, chlorophyll index, leaf area, shoot dry weight.