IMPACT OF FERTILIZER FORMULATION AND RATE OF APPLICATION ON FIELD PERFORMANCE AND NITROGEN USE EFFICIENCY OF MAIZE (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

Maize takes up a lot of nutrients from the soil, and therefore requires sufficient nutrients supply throughout the growth and development stages. Nutrient deprivation at any stage of growth could have an adverse effect on the crop’s yield. Fertilizer briquetting is a useful innovation that ensures steady supply of nutrients at every stage of growth and development of the maize plant. This study is aimed at determining the right fertilizer formulation and the right rate of application that can ensure good yield while enhancing the efficient use of nutrients. The study involved two trials, both conducted on-station at Nyankpala in the Guinea Savannah ecological zone of Ghana’s Northern Region during the 2022 farming season. Experiment one consisted of seven treatments that compared different briquette fertilizer rates. Experiment two had eight treatments which compared similar rates of granular and briquette fertilizers. Both trials were laid in randomized complete block design with four replications per treatment. The differences between the different rates of briquette fertilizer in Experiment 1 were not statistically different as far as yield was concerned, meaning that applying lower rate of briquette fertilizer did not result in any detrimental effect on growth and yield of maize. The lower rates of briquette fertilizer also recorded far superior performances in Nitrogen Use Efficiency. In Experiment 2, the comparative analysis of similar rates of briquette and granular fertilizer did not show a pattern of superior performances by either of the formulations as far as the growth parameters were concerned. The briquette treatments however, in nominal terms, produced better performances in grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency. This suggests that fertilizer briquetting ensures efficient use of nutrients by crops even at lower rates of application. It is therefore recommended for the adoption of briquetting fertilizer in order to ensure efficient use of nutrients