Abstract
Phospho compost application is important with respect to soil fertility and plant nutrition. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the influence of phospho compost application on P availability and uptake by maize in red soil. The phosphorus applied in the form of phospho compost, as compare to rock phosphate and super phosphate at a rate of 50 and 100 mg P2O5 Kg-1 soil. The application was done as spot and mix application. Results indicate that, spot application of 100 mg P2O5 kg-1 soil as phospho compost (b) registered significantly higher P uptake (2.1 and 5.31 mg·pot-1) and available soil P (19.1 and 21.0 mg·kg-1) as compare to Rock Phosphate alone (0.60 and 0.97 mg·pot-1) and (5.6 and 6.0 mg·kg-1) at 30 and 60 day after sowing, respectively. The probable chelating effect from phospho composting increased the phosphorus use efficiency and resulted into higher relative agronomic efficiency in phospho compost (b) spot application (40%) over mix application (15%). The dry matter yield had positive and significant correlation with available P in soil and P uptake by maize plants at 30 and 60 day after sowing. Results concluded that phospho compost enriched with FYM was most effective in increasing phosphorus availability in red soil and increasing dry matter yield of maize plants.
Highlights
Overexploitation and abusive use of chemical fertilizers led to soils poorer in humus content
Mean values of spot application treatments received single super phosphate (SP) were in general slightly higher than the ones treated with Phosphocompost (a) or (b) and lowest recorded in rock phosphate treatment
Among the spot application treatments, the treatment T5 of 100 mg P2O5 kg−1 soil as super phosphate produced the highest dry matter, lived leaf number, plant height and leaf area followed by T1 (50 mg P2O5 kg−1 soil as super phosphate), T8 (100 mg P2O5 kg-1 soil as Phoshocompost (b)), T7 (100 mg P2O5 kg−1 soil as Phoshocompost (a)), T3 (50 mg P2O5 kg−1 soil as Phoshocompost (a)) and the lowest recorded in rock phosphate treatment
Summary
Overexploitation and abusive use of chemical fertilizers led to soils poorer in humus content. The inadequate supply of essential plant nutrients in soil is a growth-limiting factor towards production. Phosphorus plays a series of functions in the plant metabolism and is one of the essential nutrients required for plant growth and development. It has functions of a structural nature in macromolecules such as nucleic acids and of energy transfer in metabolic pathways of biosynthesis and degradation. Phosphorus inputs are required for sustainable agricultural production in most acid soils of the tropics and subtropics. Phosphorus deficiency is a major constraint to crop production in tropical and subtropical acid soils and P fertilizers need to be applied to obtain optimum plant growth and crop yields. Direct application of rock phosphate (RP) has been mainly used in these soils, especially for perennial crops
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