Effects of Animal Manure Incorporation Methods and its Integration with Chemical Fertilizer on Yield and Yield Components of Maize (Zea mays L.) in Khorramabad, Lorestan

It is necessary to use organic fertilizers and decrease chemical fertilizers consumption to reach sustainable agriculture. Thus, to study the effects of manure incorporation methods, and integrated effects of poultry manure with chemical fertilizers on the grain yield and yield components of maize, an experiment was conducted in 2004 at the Agricultural Research Farm of Lorestan Weather Department, 30 kms northeast of Khorramabad. The treatments were arranged in a split plot layout based on randomized complete block design with four replications. The main plots consisted of incorporation of fertilizer with soil by furrower or disk. The subplots included T0: control (no consumption of fertilizer and poultry manure) T1: 200, 100, and 100 kg ha-1 of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, respectively T2: 80% of T1+ 4 ton ha-1 of poultry manure T3: 60% of T1+ 8 ton ha-1 of poultry manure T4: 40% of T1+ 12 ton ha-1 of poultry manure T5: 20% of T1+ 16 ton ha-1 of poultry manure and T6: 20 ton ha-1 of poultry manure. The results showed that incorporation of fertilizer by furrower, compared with disk, led to significant increase in plant height, 1000 seed weight and grain and biological yields. However, there were not significant differences in the number of seed per ear and harvest index between the two fertilizer incorporation methods. Fertilizer treatments caused significant increase of the treats mentioned except for the harvest index. The interaction effects were not significant for any traits. T5 treatment produced the highest grain yield, and was significantly different from T0, T1, T3 and T6 treatments. The differences between T1 (chemical nutrition system) and T6 (organic nutrition system) were not significant either. Effectiveness of integrated poultry manure and chemical fertilizers on maize yield components was higher than either poultry manure or chemical fertilizer. The results of this experiment indicated that incorporation of 16 ton poultry manure + 40, 20 and 20 kg ha-1 N, P and K with furrower might be appropriate for maize prodution under conditions similar to this experiment.