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INTEGRATED EFFECT OF INORGANIC ANDORGANIC NITROGEN SOURCES ON SOILFERTILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZEMohammad Shafi a , Azam Shah b , Jehan Bakht c , Mahmood Shah b

& Wisal Mohammad ba Department of Agronomy, KPK Agricultural University, Peshawar,Pakistanb Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistanc Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, KPKAgricultural University, Peshawar, PakistanPublished online: 03 Feb 2012.

To cite this article: Mohammad Shafi , Azam Shah , Jehan Bakht , Mahmood Shah & Wisal Mohammad(2012): INTEGRATED EFFECT OF INORGANIC AND ORGANIC NITROGEN SOURCES ON SOIL FERTILITY ANDPRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZE, Journal of Plant Nutrition, 35:4, 524-537

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Journal of Plant Nutrition, 35:524–537, 2012Copyright C© Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 0190-4167 print / 1532-4087 onlineDOI: 10.1080/01904167.2012.644372

INTEGRATED EFFECT OF INORGANIC AND ORGANIC NITROGEN

SOURCES ON SOIL FERTILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZE

Mohammad Shafi,1 Azam Shah,2 Jehan Bakht,3 Mahmood Shah,2

and Wisal Mohammad2

1Department of Agronomy, KPK Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan2Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan3Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, KPK Agricultural University,Peshawar, Pakistan

� The present study was designed to assess the effect of organic materials, i.e., farm yard manure(FYM), poultry manure (PM) and sugar cane filter cake (FC) along with mineral nitrogen on yieldand soil organic fertility. Our results indicated that among sole nitrogen (N) sources, highest grainyield was recorded from poultry manure. In the case of integrated N sources, maximum grain yieldwas obtained from 25% poultry manure + 75% mineral N source. Grain ear−1 and 1000 grainweight was highest with the application of poultry manure among sole N sources. Highest grainear−1 and 1000 grain weight was observed from 25% poultry manure + 75% mineral N source.Application of poultry manure as sole N sources resulted maximum increase in soil total N andorganic matter when compared with other sole N sources. Among N sources applied in differentproportion, maximum total soil N was recorded from 25% poultry manure + 75% mineral N. Weconcluded from these experiments that integrated application of N sources in different proportiongreatly improves the N economy and enhance crop productivity in low N soils.

Keywords: maize, N sources, farmyard manure, poultry manure, filter cake, soil fertility

INTRODUCTION

The aim of integrated plant nutrition system is the maintenance or ad-justment of soil fertility to an optimum level for sustainable crop productivity.Sustainable crop productivity can be achieved by optimizing benefits fromall possible inorganic and organic sources of plant nutrients. In additionto plant nutrient supply, organic nitrogen (N) sources improve soil humuscontent, water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity, water infiltration

Received 16 December 2009; accepted 31 August 2010.Address correspondence to Mohammad Shafi, Department of Agronomy, KPK Agricultural Univer-

sity, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan. E-mail: mshafi.aup@gmail.com

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Integration of N Sources 525

rate, aeration and porosity of the soil (Johnston and Syers, 1998; Saleem,1999). Organic materials enhance seed germination, root initiation, growth,yield, nutrients uptake and water use efficiency (Beare et al., 1994). Chem-ical fertilizers are expensive and due to low purchasing power of farmers,particularly in developing countries, farmers cannot apply fertilizers in bal-anced proportion, which resulted in low yield (Ahmad, 1999). Under suchcondition, integrated use of chemical and organic N sources can play animportant role to sustain soil fertility and crop yield (Tandon, 1998; Lampe,2000). Future strategies for increasing agricultural productivity will empha-size on using available nutrient resources more efficiently, effectively, and onsustainable basis. The overall strategy for increasing crop yield must includean integrated approach for the management of soil nutrients.

Nitrogen applied to previous crop had a remarkable effect on yield,fertilizer use efficiency and soil fertility. It is important that residual valueof fertilizer nitrogen should be taken into account when applying fertilizerN to succeeding crop. Organic manures besides supplying chemical fertil-izer to the current crop, often leaves important part as residual effect onthe succeeding crops in the system (Gaur, 1982). Ramamurthy and Shiv-ashankar (1996) observed positive residual effect of organic manure appliedto soybean on succeeding maize crop. This is due to enrichment of soilwith nutrients due to high organic matter, improved physical and chemi-cal properties of soil (Jiao, 1983). Research studies have reported increasein grain yield with application of fertilizer N (Singh et al., 1996; Raghebet al., 1993; Verma et al., 1993; Geleto et al., 1995). The soil must supplyaround 30 kg N ha−1 in available N form (usually as nitrate) for each toneof wheat grain produced which is usually unavailable and thus badly affectproduction. Therefore, for continued cereal cropping, the N supplied fromthe breakdown of organic matter must be supplemented from other sources(Herridge and Doyle, 1988; Doyle et al., 1988; McDonald, 1992). The choicemay be in favor of the use of organic sources of N either through organicmanures or green manures. Agronomic benefits of improved varieties andfertilizer cannot be realized unless soil properties are improved with residueretention and other biosolids. It is estimated that 24–40 million tonnes of ad-ditional food grains can be produced annually if organic pool in soils of thedeveloping countries is enhanced at the rate of 1Mg/ha/year (Lal, 2006).Research studies have revealed that regular and proper addition of organicmaterials are important for maintaining the tilth, fertility and productivityof agriculture, controlling wind and water erosion and preventing nutrientslosses by runoff and leaching (Lal, 1980; Maurya and Lal, 1981). Residuemanagement, quality and quantity of organic materials applied to the soilhave a significant impact on soil fertility and agronomic productivity (Lal,1997). Organic materials supply plant nutrients and improve the physicalproperties of soil. The majority of Alfisols available for crop production in

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526 M. Shafi et al.

the tropics is strongly weathered and inherently of low organic matter andnutrient status (Opera-Nadi and Lal, 1987).

Keeping in view the importance of integrated N management for sus-tained soil fertility and crop productivity, the present study was designed toassess the effect of organic materials, i.e., farm yard manure (FYM), poultrymanure (PM) and sugar cane filter cake (FC) along with mineral nitrogenon yield and soil organic fertility.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Trail Description

An experiment was conducted at Research Farms of NIFA Peshawar, Pak-istan for two years during winter 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 in KPK Provinceof Pakistan (longitude 71◦50, latitude 34◦01). Soil of the experimental sitewas silty clay loam and belongs to Tarnab fine silty, mixed hyperthermic UdicUstept. The soil pH was 8.10, electrical conductivity (EC): 0.62 ds cm−1,organic matter: 0.89%, calcium carbonate: 18%, total soil N: 0.05% andammonium bicarbonate (AB)-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)phosphorus (P): 3.5 mg kg−1. The soil has been used for various researchprograms for the last 10 years. Mean annual rainfall ranged from 380 to550 mm during the experimental period of 2005–2007 with slightly summerdominance. Arrangement of the experimental treatments is presented inTable 1. The experiment was laid out according to randomized completeblock design (RCBD) and replicated four times. Nitrogen was applied at120 kg ha−1 from mineral and organic N sources in different proportion.The organic sources used were farm yard manure (FYM), poultry manure(PM) and filter cake (FC) from sugar industry. All organic manure was ap-plied at sowing time while mineral N (urea) was applied in three split doses atsowing, tillering and booting stages of the crop. Phosphorus and potassium(K) were applied at recommended rate in the form of single super phos-phate and potassium sulfate as basal dose to the crop and adjusted on the

TABLE 1 Treatments detail of the experiment

T1 = control (no nitrogen) T10 = 50% (PM) + 50% (MN)T2 = 120 kg N ha−1 (MN) T11 = 50% (FC) + 50% (MN)T3 = 120 kg N ha−1 (FYM) T12 = 75% (FYM) + 25% (MN)T4 = 120 kg N ha−1 (PM) T13 = 75% (PM) + 25% (MN)T5 = 120 kg N ha−1 (FC) T14 = 75% (FC) + 25% (MN)T6 = 25% (FYM) + 75% (MN) T15 = 25% (FYM) + 25% (PM) + 50% (MN)T7 = 25% (PM) + 75% (MN) T16 = 25% (FYM) + 25% (FC) + 50% (MN)T8 = 25% (FC) + 75% (MN) T17 = 25% (PM) + 25% (FC) + 50% (MN)T9 = 50% (FYM) + 50% (MN)

FYM: farm yard manure, PM: poultry manure, FC: filter cake from sugar industry, MN: mineral nitrogen.

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Integration of N Sources 527

TABLE 2 Composition of organic materials

Composition

Organic N Source N(%) P (%) K (%)

Farm yard manure 0.60 0.44 1.00Poultry manure 2.87 1.30 1.75Filter cake from sugar industry 0.50 0.35 1.00

basis of P and K present in organic sources. Maize variety Azam was plantedas a test variety. Soil of all treatment plots were sampled to a depth of 0–30cm after crop harvest and analyzed for soil total N and organic matter.

Laboratory Analysis

Soil texture was determined by hydrometer method as described byMoode et al. (1954). The pH and EC in soil were determined by watersuspension (1:2.5) with the help of pH and conductivity meters accordingto the method outlined by Richard (1954). Organic matter was determinedby the method of Nelson and Sommers (1982). Total soil nitrogen wasdetermined by Kjeldhal digestion method of Bremner and Mulvaney (1982).In organic manures total nitrogen was determined by Kjeldhal digestionmethod. Composition of different organic sources is reported in Table 2.

Statistical Analysis

Data were analyzed statistically for analysis of variance (ANOVA) follow-ing the method described by Gomez and Gomez (1984). MSTATC computersoftware (MSTAT-C, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA) wasused to carry out statistical analysis (Russel and Eisensmith, 1983). The sig-nificance of differences among means was compared by using DMR test,when F-values were significant.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Total Soil N

Analysis of the data as average of two years revealed that the effects ofsole N sources and their combined effect in different proportion had signif-icantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased soil total N (Table 3). Among sole N sources,maximum soil total N was recorded from the treatment of poultry manure.Gonzales et al. (2009) reported high soil N after poultry manures was ap-plied to soil. Minimum total soil N is based on the fact that N from mineralsource is soluble and can easily lost from soils through leaching and gas

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(%)

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(%)

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(%)

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Year

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0.98

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25%

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0.05

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0.05

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1.1

1.10

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0.05

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0.05

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1.02

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25%

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0.05

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0.05

24D

1.01

1.06

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1.03

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0.01

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0.10

410

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Integration of N Sources 529

emission which results in reduced fertilizer efficiency compared with or-ganic N sources. Among different ratios of organic and inorganic N sources,highest total soil N was recorded in the treatment of 25% (poultry manure)+ 75% (mineral N) and followed by the treatment of 75% (poultry manure)+ 25% mineral N. Maximum total soil N was observed during the secondseason of maize crop. This might be attributed to mineralization of organicmatter and the residual effect of N sources which enhanced the N levelsof the soil. Our findings are supported by Parmer and Sharma (2002) whoreported that application of nitrogen from mineral N, farm yard manureand poultry manure increased soil total N. Esilab et al. (2000); Singh et al.(1996) concluded that combined application of organic manures and NPKincrease the soil total N. Nutrient contents of organic sources served as soilamendment for crops and provided appreciable quantities of N. Organicsources (poultry manure) effectively increased soil fertility, yield and nutri-ent content of crops. Sim and Wolf (1994) and Kaur et al. (2005) reportedthat soils receiving farm yard manure, poultry manure and filter cake aloneor in combination with mineral N improved the soil organic carbon (C),total N, P, and K status. Organic N sources release nutrients slowly and con-tribute to the residual pool of organic N and P in the soil and reduce Nleaching in soils.

Soil Organic Matter

Organic matter was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by organic N sources,mineral N and their integrated effect (Table 3). Average of two years datarevealed that poultry manure as sole N source resulted highest soil organicmatter and followed by the treatment of farm yard manure as the sole Nsource. Organic N sources comparatively mineralized slowly than mineralN which resulted improvement in soil organic matter. The significance oforganic sources in improving physical, chemical and biological properties ofsoil is well documented (Gopinath et al., 2008; McGill et al., 1986; Sharpleyand Smith, 1995). Organic N sources such as poultry manure filter cake andfarm yard manures constitute a valuable source of nutrients and organicmatter and can improve soil physical properties as well as soil organic matter(Munoz et al., 2004). Organic N sources increase soil nutrients and organicmatter with long lasting residual effects on crop yield and soil properties(Shafi et al., 2007; Eghball et al., 2004). Among integrated application ofN sources in different ratios, the treatment of 25% (farm yard manure) +25% (poultry manure) + 50% mineral N source resulted highest organicmatter. Jiang et al. (2006) reported an increase of 80% in organic matterwith the use of organic manure for 20 years compared to only 10% increasewith NPK. The present study showed that balanced fertilization in properproportion using both organic and mineral N sources is important for themaintenance of soil organic matter content and long term soil productivity.

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530 M. Shafi et al.

Grain Ear−1

The two-year average effect of organic N sources, mineral N source andtheir integrated effect significantly (P ≤ 0.05) enhanced number of grainsear−1 (Table 4). Among sole N sources, highest number of grains ear−1 wasrecorded from the treatment applied with poultry manure and followed byfarm yard manure. Application of organic N sources ensured regular supplyof N to plants and had positive effect on grains ear−1. Among the combinedeffect of N sources in different ratios, maximum grains ear−1 was observed inthe treatment of 25% (poultry manure) + 75% mineral N and followed bythe treatment of 75% (farm yard manure) + 25% (mineral N). The poultrymanure has ensured regular supply of N to plants and has improved num-ber of grains ear−1. Our results are in agreement with Akram et al. (1982)they reported marked increase in number of grains per spike of wheat byapplying organic manures. Talathi (2001) reported maximum grain ear−1

due to residual effect of integrated use of organic manure. Sharma et al.(1988) investigated that nutrient from organic sources did not prove ben-eficial to the rice, but its residual effect in increasing the grain yield ofsucceeding wheat crop was clearly evident.

1000 Grains Weight

Thousand grains was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by different treat-ments of mineral N source, organic N sources and their integrated effect(Table 4). Average of two years data showed that among sole N sources,maximum 1000 grains weight was recorded from the treatment applied withpoultry manure. Addition of organic N sources increases soil water holdingcapacity, which contributed to efficient performance of the crop (Costa et al.,1991; Bakht et al., 2009). The combined effect of N sources in different ra-tios has significantly contributed to 1000 grains weight. Highest 1000 grainsweight was obtained from the treatment of 25% (poultry manure) + 75%(mineral N) and followed by the treatment of 25% N (farm yard manure) +25% (poultry manure) + 50% (mineral N). Song et al. (1998) reported thatcombination of organic manures with NPK fertilizer had a significant effecton 1000 grains weight. Iqbal et al. (2002) and Silva et al. (2006) investigatedsignificant residual effect of integrated application of organic with NPK fertil-izers on 1000 grains weight. Rajput and Warsi (1992) and Soni and Sikarwar(1991) observed the residual effect of FYM on yield of succeeding wheatcrop and showed positive effect on yield of wheat. The basic concept under-lying the integrated plant nutrition system is the adjustment of soil fertilityand plant nutrient supply to an optimum level for sustaining desired cropproductivity through optimization of the benefits from all possible sources ofplant nutrients such as mineral and organic N sources. Chand et al. (2006)evaluated the influence of combined application of organic and chemical

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+75

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4.30

382.

8042

3.52

A22

1.70

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7.23

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%FC

+75

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6.60

274.

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5.37

E21

5.21

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5421

3.92

A50

%FY

M+

50%

MN

386.

3025

9.50

322.

90E

208.

5721

7.73

213.

10A

50%

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50%

MN

420.

80A

-G25

4.50

337.

68D

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1.10

205.

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8.70

289.

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6.80

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434.

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5.50

405.

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2.00

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1.10

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%PM

+25

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9.00

246.

8034

2.90

C-E

181.

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5.10

193.

64B

75%

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MN

430.

9026

7.80

349.

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-E17

0.60

204.

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8.10

256.

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207.

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0.46

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9.50

295.

3038

2.40

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180.

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6.80

193.

54B

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399.

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6.30

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9.45

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532 M. Shafi et al.

TABLE 5 Effect of mineral N and organic N sources on grain on yield (kg ha−1) of maize

Grain yield (kg ha−1)

Years

Treatment 2005–2006 2006–2007 Mean

No nitrogen (control) 876 866 871 FMineral nitrogen (urea) 1221 1368 1294 EFarm yard manure (FYM) 1357 1382 1370 DEPoultry manure (PM) 1417 1504 1460 DEFilter cake (FC) 1281 1386 1333 DE25% FYM+ 75% MN 1838 1743 1790 AB25% PM+ 75% MN 1603 2152 1877 A25% FC+ 75% MN 1391 1641 1516 CDE50% FYM+ 50% MN 1467 1370 1418 DE50% PM+ 50% MN 1312 1468 1390 DE50% FC+ 50% MN 1323 1521 1422 DE75% FYM+ 25% MN 1596 1816 1706 ABC75% PM+ 25% MN 1293 1536 1414 DE75% FC+ 25% MN 1380 1534 1457 DE25% FYM+ 25% PM+ 50% MN 1390 1407 1398 DE25% FYM+ 25% FC+ 50% MN 1530 1620 1575 BCD25% PM+ 25% FC+ 50% MN 1333 1509 1421 DEMean 1389 NS 1519 NS

LSD value at 5% for treatment = 216.20

Means in same column followed by different letters are significantly different at 5% level of probabilityusing DMR test.

fertilizers on fertility buildup of the soil and revealed that integrated supplyof plant nutrients through farmyard manure and fertilizer NPK along withgreen manuring played significant role for regular availability of nutrientsfor sustainable crop productivity.

Grain Yield

Grain yield was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by poultry manure assole N source and followed by farm yard manure as sole N source (Table 5).Application of organic N sources has increased growth, yield and water useefficiency of cereals under limited water supply (Ahmad et al., 2008; Sushilaand Gajendra, 2000; Idris and Wisal, 2001; Singh and Agarwal, 2001; Zeidanand Kramany, 2001; Iqbal et al., 2002). Grain yield is an important characterand the ultimate output of any crop. The grain yield usually depends uponvarious factors such as soil fertility status, water availability, crop manage-ment, agronomic practices and environmental factors. Soils receiving or-ganic manures have a high number of micro-fauna and more P and K thansoil receiving mineral fertilizer (Edmeades, 2003; Herencia et al., 2007).Greater nutrients availability in manured treatments contributed to thehigher grain yield. Highest grain yield was observed in 2007 when compared

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with 2006 which revealed carryover effect of N sources on succeeding maizecrop. Bakht et al. (2009) and Eghball et al. (2004) reported that organic Nsources increase soil nutrients and organic matter with carryover effects oncrop yield. Among the integrated effect of N sources and N ratios, highestgrain yield was obtained from the treatments applied with 25% (poultry ma-nure) + 75% (mineral N) and followed by the treatment of 75% (farm yardmanure) + 25% (mineral N). Shaaban (2006) reported higher grain yieldwith the application of 80 kg organic N (poultry manure + 40 kg inorganicN). Our study showed that treatments which received N from organic andmineral sources in the ratio of 25:75 produced higher grain yield. Our resultsare in conformity with the findings of Mtambanengwe et al. (2006), Wangand Cai (2007) and Yaduvanshi and Swarup (2005). Yield improvement un-der these treatments may be due to enhanced availability and use of N, waterand other associated soil improving benefits from organic N sources. Signifi-cant improvement of yield by integrated N management can be attributed todesired vegetative growth which might have resulted in better interception,absorption and utilization of radiation energy leading to higher photosyn-thetic rate and finally more grain yield. The overall improvement in cropperformance reflected into better source-sink relationship, which in turnenhanced grain yield. Our results are in consonance with the findings ofKaur et al. (2008) and Madhavi et al. (1995). Integrated nitrogen manage-ment had synergistic effect on grain yield of wheat during both seasons. Thehigher yield from integrated nitrogen application from mineral and organicsources ensured the required supply of available nutrients such as nitrogento the plants. Organic N sources improve the proportion of water stableaggregates of the soil. This was attributed to cementing action of polysac-charides and other organic compounds released during the decompositionof organic matter thus leading to high yield (Hendrix et al., 1994).

CONCLUSIONS

Our experiments revealed that N sources as well as N ratios has signifi-cantly increased soil total N, organic matter, grains ear−1, 1000 grains weightand grain yield of maize. Sole N sources on the average increased grainyield by 67.62% due to poultry manure, 57.29% due to farm yard manureand 53.04% due to filter cake. Integrated effect of N sources in differentproportion enhanced grain yield by 115.50% due to the application of 25%N from poultry manure and 75% N from mineral N (urea). Highest totalsoil N (%) with an increase of 13.30% was recorded from poultry manureas sole N source. Maximum improvement of 12.82% was observed from theintegrated effect of 25% poultry manure + 75% mineral N. Poultry manureas sole N source resulted maximum increase in soil organic matter by 18.47%.In case of combined application of N sources in different ratio, 25% (poultry

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manure) + 25% (filter cake) + 50% (mineral N) has enhanced soil organicmatter by 19.26%. Grain ear−1 was improved by 19.80% with the applicationof poultry manure as sole N source and 32.02% due to integrated applica-tion of 25% (poultry manure) + 75% (mineral N). Maximum increase of21.02% was recorded from the treatment of poultry manure. Application of25% poultry manure and 75% mineral N increased 1000 grain weight by22.10%. Integrated use of organic N and mineral N sources in 25:75 ratioswere found better combination for enhanced grain yield. The integratedapproach for application of N sources is more viable and sustainable thantheir sole application to obtain a balanced nutrient application as needed bythe crop. The farmers must ensure application of organic N sources alongwith mineral N source for enhanced soil fertility and crop yield.

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