Effects Of Different Rates Of Granular and Briquette NPK and Urea Fertilizers on Growth and Yield of Maize (Zea mays L.).

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted at Bunuso in Mampong - Ashanti Municipal and at Ejura Agricultural College crop farm in the Ejura- Sekyedumasi Municipality during the major rainy season from April 2022 to July 2022. The objective of the study was to determine the effects of different rates of granular and briquette NPK and urea fertilizers on growth and yield of maize. The experimental design used for the two studies was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), with seven treatments and each replicated four times. The treatments were: (1) Control (No fertilizer), (2) Granule (120-40-40 kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (217.2 kg/ha), (3) Briquette (124-40-38 kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (100 kg/ha), (4) Briquette (116-48-46 kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (100 kg/ha), (5) Briquette (9465-62 kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (66 kg/ha), (6) Briquette (77-32-31kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (66 kg/ha) and (7) Briquette (31-32-31kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (33.2 kg/ha). The results showed that the application of NPK and urea fertilizers granular and briquettes form to the soil at the two experimental sites improved soil organic matter, soil water holding capacity, nitrogen, pH, calcium, magnesium and potassium which resulted in the availability of nutrients in the soil needed for optimal plant yield. The results revealed that, application of granular (120-40-40 kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (217.2 kg/ha) to maize tasseled and silked earlier across both locations. At Bunuso maize plants that received briquette (31-3231kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (33.2 kg/ha) had significantly taller plant height from 5 to 7 WAP and briquette (124-40-38 kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (100 kg/ha) had the tallest plants from 9 to 11 WAP. The no fertilizer (control) treatment produced the shortest plant heights across the growing period at both locations. The briquette (31-32-31 kg/ha NPK) + Briq urea (33.2 kg/ha) fertilizer produced significantly higher total stover weight per plot than Granular (120-40-40 kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (217.2 kg/ha) at Bunuso. Maize plants that received different rates of NPK + briquette urea fertilizer had higher grain yield than plant that received granular NPK + urea fertilizer and the control across both locations. The application of briquette fertilizer (94-65-62 kg/ha NPK) + BriqUrea (66 kg/ha) at Bunuso and Ejura had the highest crop growth rate from 0-8 WAP and 8-10 WAPand were significantly different from the control. However, the briquette fertilizer (77-32-31kg/ha NPK) + Briq Urea (66 kg/ha) had the highest Relative growth rate from 0-8 WAP across both locations and significantly different from the control. Briquette NPK (124-40-38 kg/ha) + Briq urea (100 kg/ha) gave the highest yield at Bunuso, while Briquette (116-4846 kg/ha) + Briq urea (100 kg/ha) and Briquette (31-32-31 kg/ha) + Briq urea (33.2 kg/ha) gave the highest yield at Ejura. It is recommended that for increased maize yield farmers are encouraged to apply briquette NPK (124-40-48 kg/ha) + Briq urea (100 kg/ha) in briquette form. Further research should be conducted at different agro ecological zones of Ghana with more appropriate fertilizer formulations to increase the efficiency of fertilizer for optimize maize yield.