Improvement of plant growth and production of sweet corn with organic-N and nature-P enriched manure and inorganic fertilizer in Batang District of Central Java Indonesia

Abstract

Crop productivity is affected by organic and inorganic fertilizer. Sweet corn (Zea mays saccharatta) is used under crop-livestock system (CLS) in Indonesia. The characteristic of CLS is crop yield for food, stover and cornhusk for livestock feed, and dung (i.e. cattle, goat, poultry) for manure as organic fertilizer. Organic-N (Leucaena leucocephala) and nature-P (rock phosphate) enhanced the quality of manure if added at the initial fermentation process that was called manure plus. Present study investigated the effect of organic-N and nature-P enriched manure application on plant growth and sweet corn production, stover and cornhusk production in Batang District of Central Java. The experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with seven treatments and four replicates, T1 (SA+TSP), T2 (cattle manure+inorganic), T3 (cattle manure plus), T4 (goat manure+inorganic), T5 (goat manure plus), T6 (poultry manure+inorganic), T7 (poultry manure plus). The results showed that plant height and sweet corn production, stover and cornhusk production significantly affected by the treatment. Goat manure plus resulted in similar on plant growth and sweet corn production compared to manure+inorganic fertilizer. It was concluded that N-Leucaena leucocephala and P-RP enriched manure replaces inorganic fertilizer (SA+TSP).