Abu Bakar, Rosenani

Darus, Siti Zauyah

Ishak, Che Fauziah

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

FOR Category F10900: Agricultural SciencesSUSTAINABLE SWEETCORN PRODUCTION .,THROUGH THE USE OF ORGANIC FERTILISERSOR RESIDUES AND EFFECTIVE MICRO-ORGANISMSAB Rosenani.S'D Zauyah and C.I FauziahFaculty of AgricultureUniversitiPutra Malaysia, 43400 UPM"Serdang, Selangor,Mala'VsiaKeywords: corn, organic fertilizer,organic residue, ef-fective microorganisms, sustainable production.IntroductionCom has recently become animportant crop' due to the de-mand for sweetcom as snacks and graincom for poultry feed.Up till now, com cultivation in Malaysia has dependedmainly on chemical fertilisers. For sustainable crop produc-tion, the fertility of the soil need to be sustained and the envi-ronment need to be protected from pollutants and contami-nants.Thus, chemical fertiliser application should be mini-mised. The few studies on organic fertilisation of maize haveconcentrated yield responses and alleviation of aluminiumtoxicity. Understanding the effect of organic residue! fertil-iser applications on dynamics of soil organic matter andavailability of nutrients, particularly, 'nitrogen is greatlylacking. Some microorganisms, called effective microorgan-isms (EM), are claimed to enhance organic matter decompo-sition and nutrient availability. Thus, this study was estab-lished to investigate the extent of the benefits of organic fer-tiliser or soil amendments (crop residues) in com cultivation.Materials and MethodsA field experiment was set up in the UPM Puchong experi-mental farm to study the effects of crop residue and organicfertiliser (chicken dung) applications on com in a rotationcrop system with groundnut. Three treatments were laid outwith 4 replications, i.e. recommended chemical fertiliser.rates without crop residues (Tl), recommended fertiliserrates with crop residues (T2) and combination of chickendung and chemical fertilisers with crop residue (T3). Forcom in Tl and T2, the fertiliser rates were 150 kg Nlha, 90kg Plha and 90kgK/ha, and for T3, 10 tonneslha chickendung combined.with chemical fertilisers: 75 kg Nlha, 90 kgPlha and, 90 kg K/ha. Fertilisation for groundnut was 30 kgNlha, 90 kg Plha and 90 kg K/ha for Tl, T2 and T3. Cropresidues were returned to the respective plots aftereach har-vest. Besides yield recording, soil and, plant samples weretaken for analysis of soil organic matter, and nutrient uptake.Another experiment was also-set-up inminilysimeters usingthe same soil (Bungor series) to study the effect of EM onnutrient availability from sewage sludge and chicken dungapplication to com (monocrop).Results and DiscussionThe main field experiment was set up in April t997,and to-date, 4 crops had been grown (2 corn and 2 groundnut crops).The effect of treatments was investigated after the first crop,i.e. after the application of the crop residue. Up to the thirdcrop, the mean crop yield values showed higher' yield ofmaize cobs in .T3 than T2, and T2 higher than Tl (control),i.e. 4.25, 3.54 and 2.65 kglha, respectively, but the differ-ences ,were, not statistically significant This suggests, thatthere were no significant effects, of the crop residue andchicken dung application probably' because the variability inyield between the replicates was still high. Therefore treat-ments should be studied in the long-term, i.e. after severalcrop residue and organic, fertiliser applications. on the con-trary, the, total N uptake by the third crop of maize in T3plots (chicken dung + chemical fertiliser + residue) was sig-nificantly (P<O.OS) higher than, N uptake in T2 plots. Thepotassium uptake by the third crop was also higher in theplots with crop residue application (Tl and T3) than the T2plots (without crop residue), i.e. 120, 82 and 48 kg K/ha inthe TI, Tl and T2, respectively. The soil analyses also indi-.cated highest input of P, K,Ca and Mg from.TS .treatment,The decomposition study in the field showed' that 50% drymatter weight loss of the maize residue was attained '5.4weeks after application (WAP) compared to 3.5 WAP ofgroundnut residue, under the Malaysian tropical climate.Thus, fallow periods between cropping season should beshort (4-6 weeks) in order to utilise the nutrient released bydecomposing crop residues. This experiment will continuefor at least 5 years. Results of the minilysimeter experimentshowed t no effect of the EM until the third crop of maize.There was maximum uptake of nitrogen in the sewage sludgewith EM but not with chicken dung treatment. This meansthat EM is more effective in making nutrients more availablein higher C/N ratio organic fertiliser than with low C/N ratioorganic fertiliser.Conclusions' ,The effect of crop residue application on crop, yields couldnot be conclusively observed in the third crop. Itwould re-quire several more cropping seasons: Similarly, the lysimeterexperiment showed no. effect of the EM.Supported by IRPA Grant 01-02-04-006735,)'

Sustainable sweetcorn production through the use of organic fertilisers or residues and effective microorganisms

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Sustainable sweetcorn production through the use of organic fertilisers or residues and effective microorganisms

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