Integrated Weed and Nutrient Management Improve Yield, Nutrient Uptake and Economics of Maize in the Rice-Maize Cropping System of Eastern India

• Published in: Agronomy (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 12; p. 1906
• Main Authors: Ghosh, Dibakar, Brahmachari, Koushik, Brestic, Marian, Ondrisik, Peter, Hossain, Akbar, Skalicky, Milan, Sarkar, Sukamal, Moulick, Debojyoti, Dinda, Nirmal Kumar, Das, Anupam, Pramanick, Biswajit, Maitra, Sagar, Bell, Richard W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2020
• Subjects: Agrochemicals; agronomy; Animal manures; Atrazine; Brassicaceous seed meal; Cereal crops; Composting; Conjugation; Corn; Crop yield; Cropping systems; density; Economics; Fertilizers; Grain; grain yield; herbicide; Herbicides; hoeing; India; integrated weed management; Manures; Neem; neem cake; Nitrogen; nutrient management; Nutrient uptake; Nutrients; Organic fertilizers; Organic wastes; Production costs; Profitability; Rice; Seed meal; Soil fertility; soil quality; Soils; sole; Supplements; Vermicomposting; vermicomposts; Weed control; weed ecology; Weeds; Worms; Zea mays; India
• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy10121906
• ISSN: 2073-4395

Increasing productivity of maize while decreasing production costs and maintaining soil health are emerging challenges for the rice–maize system in South Asia. A range of integrated nutrient and weed management practices were tested in winter maize for their effects on yield, profitability, and soil health. The nutrient management treatments were a partial substitution of nitrogen with bulky (Farmyard manure; vermicompost) and concentrated organic manures (Brassicaceous seed meal, BSM; neem cake), whereas weed management practices compared chemical controls only versus an integrated approach. The N supplementation through BSM diminished the weed growth by reducing weed N uptake, and enhanced the maize crop uptake of nutrients. As compared to the sole chemical approach, atrazine-applied pre-emergence followed by hoeing reduced weed density by 58 and 67% in years 1 and 2, respectively. The N supplementation through BSM resulted in the maximum yield of maize grain (6.13 and 6.50 t ha−1 in year 1 and year 2, respectively) and this treatment increased yield in year 2 compared to N application through synthetic fertilizer. Hoeing in conjugation with herbicide enhanced the maize grain yield by 9% over herbicide alone. The maximum net return and economic efficiency were achieved with the application of BSM for N supplementation, together with the integrated weed management practice.