Effect of Herbagreen Foliar Fertilizer on Growth and Productivity of Maize in the Mid-altitude Zone of Rwanda

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L) is still largely a subsistence food crop under promotion as a food security crop and source of income for smallholders. It is grown in the mid altitude zone of Rwanda. Herbagreen is a Bio fertilizer, used successfully in agriculture in different countries of the world.
 The objective of this study was to determine the maize response to herbagreen foliar fertilizer application and determine the optimum rate for maximum yield. This was done in Randomized Complete Bloc Design (RCBD) with four treatments, replicated in four times. Four treatments of herbagreen rates including T1 as control, T2=0.31Kg/ ha-1, T3=0.63Kg/ha-1and T4=0.94Kg ha-1 of herbagreen foliar fertilizer. This was applied to a population of 53.333 plants/ha. The planting spacing was used at 75 cmX50 cm with 2 plants per hill. Analysis of variance for the different parameters measured showed that there was a high significant (p<0.001) among treatment for number of leaves, ear weight and grain yield. The effect of herbagreen foliar fertilizer differed significantly (p<0.05) for male flowering, female flowering, ear length, ear diameter and plant height. The maximum grain yield was 4.922 t ha-1 recorded with the application of 0.94 kg ha-1, followed by 0.63 kg/ha which produced 4.629 t ha-1 also 0.31 kg ha-1of herbagreen yielded 4.589 t ha-1 and lastly the minimum grain yield was found in control plots where it produced 3.569 t ha-1 The control plots did not receive any herbagreen foliar fertilizer. The optimum herbagreen foliar fertilizer rate for maximum grain yield was 0.94 kg ha-1 from the regression equation and the predicted grain yield at this rate was 4.8 t ha-1. Herbargreen foliar application can increase Maize yield to a certain extent. However, further experiments need to be done to ensure the sustainability of the application.