Evaluating Green Manuring of Moringa and Jantar along with Inorganic Fertilizers to Enhance the Yield and Quality Attributes of Autumn Maize (Zea mays L.).

Addition of organic matter is considered one of the best approaches in crop production to improve soil fertility and productivity. Like jantar and moringa are rich in plant nutrients and becoming popular in farming community as a green manure. An experiment was conducted for evaluating green maunuring of moringa and jantar along with inorganic fertilizers to enhance the yield and quality attributes of autumn maize at Agronomic Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. There were two factors, green manuring (No green manuring, moringa green manuring and Jantar green manuring) and different levels of NPK fertilizers (no fertilizers, 50% of RDF, 100% of RDF). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with split plot arrangement in triplicate run. Results from the experiment revealed that both the factors significantly affected all the parameters under study while their interactive effect was non-significant. Among green biomass incorporation treatments, maximum plant height (168.34 cm) cob length (16.32 cm), number of grains per cob (410), 1000-grain weight (200.22 g), biological yield (16.63 t ha-1) grain yield (5.75 t ha-1) harvest index (34.22%) and grain protein content (8.56%) was obtained with (moringa green manuring).While Among fertilizer levels (100% of RDF) produced maximum plant height (189.02 cm) cob length (18.21 cm), number of grains per cob (438.7), 1000-grain weight (216.57 g), biological yield (17.79 t ha-1) grain yield (6.99 t ha-1) harvest index (39.37%) and grain protein content (8.78%). It can be concluded from above results that along with 100% of RDF, moringa can be used as green manure and incorporated into the soil to enhance the maize productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]