An appropriate levels of soil compaction and fertilizers is necessary to create an optimum seed bed condition for optimum
crop growth and yield. Experiment was carried out to investigate the performance of maize (Zeamays) in terms of stem
diameter, crop height and yield when planted in sandy loam soil incorporated with organic manure (cow dung) and inorganic
fertilizer N.P.K. at different levels of soil compaction. A sandy loam soil was subjected to compaction of different tractor traffic
of 0,5,10, and 15 passes of MF 180 tractor with tyre inflation pressure of 31 kpa before crop sowing in a complete randomized
block design experiment. The crop was sown to depths of 5 cm at 30 cm between raw and 40 cm within row. The fertilizers
were applied to the plots at the rate of 120 kg/ha. Plant heights and stem diameter of the crop were measured at an interval of
two weeks after planting till the time of harvest. Results indicate that the crop stem diameter and height vary throughout the
growing period of the crop for the various levels of soil compaction and the fertilizers incorporated in the soils. Highest mean
crop stem diameters, heights and yields of 15.45 and 18.74 mm, 103.50 and 134.86 cm, 2.90 and 4.02 t/ha were obtained for
zero tractor pass (control) in the study area, respectively. Generally, for this study, maize performance decreases with increase
in soil compaction. There was a high significant difference between the crop stem diameters, heights and yields even for the
same treatment in the study area. N.P.K. fertilizer performed better than cow dung in improving the yield of maize planted in
sandy loam soil for the various levels of soil compaction.
Key words: Maize, compaction, stem, height, yield, cow dung , NPK fertilizer.
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