ABSTRACT

Food security has always been a key issue in agriculture sector and it has become even more crucial in recent decades due the decreasing available resources and climate change. Maize is one of the important and popular grain in the world. It is a major source of carbohydrates not just for human but also livestock. Therefore, it is important to identify planting practice that will improve the maize yield and quality. A field experiment was carried out to identify ideal fertilization application method and rate for optimal maize yield under biotic farming condition (chemical free). Bio-fertilizer (N:P:K 5:5:5) was applied with broadcasting and furrow method at application rate: 1, 2, 3 and 4 tons ha^-1 at three replications (n=48).. The plant growth performance of maize were evaluated based on plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, corn weight, cob length and thousand-kernel mass.  Results suggested no significant difference between broadcast and furrow methods on plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, corn weight, cob length and thousand-kernel mass. In terms of fertilizer application rate, no significant difference observed on plant height, number of leaves and stem diameter, except for cob length, corn weight and thousand-kernel mass. The overall results showed fertilizer method using furrow application at 3 tons ha^-1 is the ideal practice for optimal yield under biotic farming condition. In summary, application rate has a significant impact on cob quality disregards whether is broadcast or furrow method.

TRADEMARK

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