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Abstract
Low soil fertility has been a major factor to low maize yields in smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa. Technologies have been proposed including inorganic, fertilizers and plant growth promoting microorganisms. A study was conducted under greenhouse and field conditions to evaluate the effects of liquid inorganic fertilizer and microbiological products on growth, nutrient uptake and yield of maize. Products evaluated were Teprosyn (nitrogen, zinc phosphorus), BioSoil Crop Booster (BSCB) (Pseudomonas fluorescens), and Bio Soil Nitro plus (BSN+) (Acetobacter sp.). Treatments were: products alone (low and high rate), product + half rate phosphorus (10 kg P ha-1), half rate P, full rate P (20 kg P ha-1) and Control. All products were analysed for quality. None of the products met the label claims in nutrient/organism concentration. An increase of biomass was observed in the greenhouse for half rate P + BSCB low rate and high rates for BSCB and BSN+ compared to Control. Half rate P + BSN+ low rate gave the highest grain yield which was similar full rate nitrogen and P. BSCB and BSN+ at low rates with P half rate resulted in an increase in biomass yield in the greenhouse. Efficacy of low rate BSN+ + half rate P was demonstrated when applied at the recommended rates and combined with half rates of N and P. A package of inorganic and Bio-fertilizers should be developed based on soil fertility status, and the quality of the inputs verified to ensure that they are conform to the label guarantee analysis.
Highlights
The most important constraint to high crop yields in developing countries, and especially among resource-poor farmers, is low soil fertility status (Mohamadi & Sohrabi, 2012)
Microbiological products are composed of living microorganisms such as nitrogen (N) fixers, potassium (K) solubilizers and phosphorus (P) solubilizers, and molds or fungi which, when applied to seed or soil, colonize the rhizosphere and promote growth by converting nutritionally important elements (e.g. N and P) from unavailable to available forms through biological processes such as nitrogen fixation or solubilization of insoluble phosphates (Rokhzadi et al, 2008)
Quality control of agricultural inputs in the marketplace is crucial for farmers to obtain the value of their money and expected crop yields
Summary
The most important constraint to high crop yields in developing countries, and especially among resource-poor farmers, is low soil fertility status (Mohamadi & Sohrabi, 2012). To sustainably produce enough food on dwindling land sizes requires a combination of approaches for example revised fertilizer formulation, better plant nutrition management, combination of organic and inorganic resources and improvement of agronomic practices at farm scale level. These must be geared towards sustainability both socially and environmentally to keep agriculture as a viable enterprise. In Cuba, several microbiological products composed of strains of Azotobacter, Rhizobium, Azopirillum or Burkhoderia are commercially produced and used in the cultivation of different crops These microbiological products have proved to increase root and shoot elongation as well as yields of rice, beans, wheat, maize and sorghum (Ahmed, 2010). Phosphate solubilizing micro-organisms (PSM) (Khan et al, 2007) have been found to associate with the jas.ccsenet.org
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