Influence of liquid organic fertilizer on growth and yield of maize ( Zea maysL . )

Since identification of sustainable and cost effective organic input is vital, an experiment was carried out at Crop Farm, Eastern University Sri Lanka, Vantharumoolai from May to August 2010 to investigate the effect of liquid organic mixture (Jeetvamirta) on growth and yield of maize (cv. Pacific 984). The experimental design was randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates. Different application frequencies of Jeewamirta were considered as treatments and treatments were defined as follows; T1- once a week application, T2- once in two weeks application, T3- once in three weeks application and T4- as control plot. Measurements viz. leaf area and plant biomass were taken at two weeks interval and data were analyzed statistically. The results revealed that there were significant (p AGRIEAST 2010 (9) p.11-16


Introduction
Maize (Zea maysL.) is the top most ranking cereal manures may increase soil fertility and thus crop in terms of higher grain yield and used as food productionpotentialpossiblybychangingphysical and feed.Number of factors is responsible for andchemicalpropertiesofsoilincludingnutrient low yield of which inappropriate crop putrition bioavailability,soilstructure,waterholdingcapacity, management and poor soil fertility are the most cation exchange capacity, soil pH, microbial important factors.Maize has been cultivated by community and its activity etc. (Marschner, 1995; thetraditionalfarmerswithincreasedapplication Muhammad and Khattak,2009).On the other of synthetic fertilizers especially nitrogen as it hand, large amount of organic residues so required shows higher response to applied r-ritrogen.Tlte cannot be produced on small scale farms.Much increased applications of fertilizers lead to more attention has been paid in recent years to rnanage suc'culentcropswhicharevulnerableforvarious different organic waste resources in order to species of insects and diseases attacks (Palekar, minimize cost of production and to cultivate crops 2005).The increased and often indiscriminate use eco-friendly (Suthar, 2001). of such feltilizers irnmensely harrned biological activity of the soil and rendering it ahnost lifJless Microbial inoculants containing many kinds of in vast areas.In addition, inorganic cultivation naturally occurring beneficial microbes called causes soil erosion over l5 tones / ha of top 'EffectiveMicroorganisms'hasbeenusedwidely soil lost on average and the left is coarse.witir in nature and organic fanning (Iwaishi, 2005)' The less organic mattei(Arun and Sharma, 2000).utilizatior-r of non-traditional organic resources ' whose value has not been fully identified may offer Lowuseefficienciesofinorganicfertilizerscoupled alternative sources of organic manure.One such withtheirrisingcostshasdircctcdtheattentionof organic resource is Jeewamirta which has been farmers to wards organic sources.Organic used by farmers in Indian.Jeewamirta promotes immense biological activities in the soil artd nrakes the nutrient available to the crops (Palekar, 2005).
However, the use of Jeewarnirta as an organic source for cultivatiott has been poorly irlvcstigatcd.
Hence, in this study maize was used as an irrdicator crop to investigate the eft'ccts of Jeewanrirta on growth and yield of ntaize (Zca ntuys 1".)- Materials :rnd Methtltls This experintetrt was coirducted at Crop Farnt, Eastern University, Sri [,arrka, Varrtharutnoolai frorn May to August 2010 to find out the inl'lucrrcc of Jeewarnirta otl growth,and yicld of ntaize.'l-hc .soil type was sandy rcgosol.Tlre experimelrt was laid out in Rarrdornized Cornplete Block Design (RCBD) witlt four replicatcs.Rottcd cow duttg at tlre rate of l0 t/lra was applied as basal ancl therealter Jeewamirta was applied as source of p I artt n utrierrts.D iffererrt app I ication frcquenc ies of Jeewamirta were considered as treatntents attd treatments were defined as follows: 'l'lollce a week applicatiott, T2-once in two weeks application, T3once in three wccks applicatiorr arrd T4as control plot.Liquid organic tnixture (Jeewarnirta) was prepared in a 200 L plastic barrel with the ingredients at the rate ol l0 kg of cow dung and l0 L of urine frorn indigenous cow, 2 kg of Jaggery, 2 kg of pulse powder and a lrandful of farrl soil per acre.The all six ingredients were rnixe{ in plastic barrel and stirred well.Then the barrel was covered with gtrnny rnat.'l'he barrcl was placetl in shnclc and stirred in clockwise twice a day in ordcr to accelcrate nricrobial activities' 'fhe prcpared .lecwamirtawas applied after three days of lbrtnctttatiotr.Jeewatttirta was diluted l0 tirnes with water be fbre application.All the agrottontical practiccs exccpt tltose under study kept ttorntal artd unilbrttr firr all the treattnents.Paranrcte rs suclt as leaf arca and plant biomass were takr: n at 4, 6, 8, 10, l2 weeks after sowing (WAS).At l5 WAS, harvcsted cobs were air dricd and paratneters such as nunrber of grairrs per row, numbcr of seccls per cob, 100 seed weight and tlnal grain yield (Mt) per lta were measured' The data gathcred in eaclt observatiotl were statistically analyzed usirlg SAS 9.1 versiott statistical soltware packagc ancl tttean conrparisotl was perlbrttted within treattncnts rrsing DMRT test at 5% significattt level.
Number of grnins per col: Maximum number of grain per ecb (483) was recorded in plot rvhich received.Jee'.r,'ainirtac'nce a week while minimum'number (170) was recorded in control treatment.These resttlts might be due to the variation in nutrient availability arnong the treatments.This was sppported by Rasheed et al. (2004) who stated that seed number increases with increased available N and P. The P level increased with increased level of cow dung applied (Akandy et a\.,2006).
The present results indieated the vital role of Jeewamirta liquid fertilizer in irtcreasing the availability ofN and P in soil.Ilussaini et al. (2002) stated that substantial increase in grain yield primarily arising from N availability and secondarily frorn P. Application of jeewarnirta improved nutrient availability through enhanced microbial activities.Increased microbial activity in rhizosphere and released organic substances by plants might be responsible for higher organic matter contents in the rhizosphere soil than in bulk sorl (Marschner, I 995)" Due to the higher microbial activity in T'l compared u'ith other treatments, it produces organic acids and thus increases the availability of natiVe P and other nutrients through decompos ition process (Palekar, 2005 )' Carbonic acid produced after the decomposition increased P bioavailability (Marschner, 1995)' It has been reported that humic acids increase the number of roots thereby increase the grou'th and plant development of rnaize (Alvarez and Grigera, 2005)' Average weight ( 100 saeds Application of .leewarnirtahad sigrrificaLrt diffetent (p<0.05) in 100 seed weight' The maximum weight of 20.9g was observed in Tl but statistically was equivaient to T2 (20.-lg) and T3 (20.0C)while srg- nificantly minimum weight (18.2g) u'as recorded in control plot.It rnay be due to the difference in application frequency of Jeewamirta liquid ferlilizer.Poor dry matter partitioning to the grains, lower leaf area may be the reasons for lowest 100 seeds weight in control treatment.Sangakkara et al. (1993) reported that increasing the availability of nutrients iucreases the number of grains and grain weight of maize.The rnost critical phase for N supply is the grain filling stage when the canopy N levels typically decline as the plant progresses to maturity (Christensen et a|.,7987) and retranslocation ofN from leal,es and the stem to ears preclominate (Lernaire and plenet, 1999).Higher availability ofnutrient in grain filling stage attributed to higher value in 100 seeds weight in Tl than other treatments.

Grain yiekl
The grain yield was significantly affected by the treatments' effect.The grain yield varied between 1 .9tlhain control and 6.1 tlha intreatment which received Jeewamirta onee a week (Table 3).The reasons may be the difference in nutrient availability among the treatments.Yield differences among the treatments of T1, T2 and T'3 rnight be due to different level of N. Similar trends in yield differences across N levels have bee:r repofte.lby Sharifi et al. (2009). Sanjeev andBangarwa (1997) reported that grain yield increased with increasin g N level" The hi ghest yield obtained in T1 might be due to its superiority in yield components.Liquid formula of Jeewamirta consisting of huge number of beneficial'microbes and thus improves the soil fertility level through natural process.Cyanobacteria as promissor:y rnicroorganisms improve the decomposition of death planting materials and increasing the activity of the soil micro flora.It further improved the recyclir-rg of essential nutrients lvith further advantage of ensuring sustainability of ecosystem, because there is a continuous renewable carbon source and also contributing in fixing N and P mobilization (Zdpa et al., 2008)' When increased the application of Jeewamirta, it increases the amount of availabiliry of nitrogen and possibly other essential nutrients and thus increase the dry weight and yield of maize.Addition of nitrogen inereases small roots and root hairs which et at.{20i0) stated that inereaseel availabiiilv of in turn facilitated the high absorbing capacity per nutrients in soil and maize erop led to enhane ed unit of dry weight (Hussaini et a\",2008).ojeniyi growth and cob yield.

Conclusions
From these results it eould be coneluded that applieation of Jeewamirta liquid organic fertilizer had significant effect on maize growth and yield.
Based on the findings, application of Jeewatnirta once aweekwith incorporation of organic matlure as basal can be the alternative organic source of nutrientto obtain optimum yield in sLrstainable and environmental friend ly lnanner.