Effect of organic supplements and inorganic nutrients levels on productivity and quality of maize in acidic soil

The field experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Assam to evaluate the effect of organic supplements and inorganic nutrients levels on growth, productivity and quality of maize in acidic soil of upper Assam during kharif season of 2023. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications and consists three organic supplements (Control, FYM @ 10 t/ha and Vermicompost @ 2.5 t/ha) in main plots and four inorganic nutrients levels along with lime @ 300 kg/ha (Control, 50% RDF (NPK), 75% RDF (NPK) and 100% RDF (NPK)) in sub plots. Results indicate that among three organic supplements, application of FYM @10 t/ha showed higher dry matter accumulation (1150.1g/m2) at 60 DAS, grain (4.47 t/ha), stover (8.18 t/ha) and biological yield (12.54 t/ha), N (1.48% and 0.89%), P (0.27% and 0.17%) and K (0.45% and 1.56%) concentration in grain and stover, respectively and higher crude protein content (9.27%). Among the inorganic nutrients levels, application of 100% RDF(NPK) proved best in respect to dry matter accumulation (1145.1 g/m2) at 60 DAS, grain yield (4.43 t/ha), stover yield (8.17 t/ha), biological yield (12.6 t/ha) and the N (1.53% and 0.91%), P (0.29% and 0.19%), K (0.44% and 1.56%) concentration in grain and stover, respectively and crude protein content in grain (9.54%).