Integration of potassium fertilizer with mechanically prepared potassium-enriched compost from city market waste for improvement in maize production

In modern agriculture, potassium (K) is being considered as an indispensable nutrient for sustainable crop production. However its use is negligible or minimal in current agricultural practices of Pakistan. In view of the significance of K, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of K-enriched recycled organic wastes (potassium enriched compost- KEC) for improving yield of hybrid maize (Hycorn-11-plus). The KEC was prepared from the market wastes (fruits and vegetables) using mechanical composter at Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Punjab, and applied @ 300 kg ha-1. The inorganic K treatments were involved 0, 60, 45, 30, 15 K2O ha-1 in the form of potassium sulphate (K2SO4). The randomized complete block design was used. The enrichment of compost with K reduced carbon to nutrient (N, P, K) ratios and improved the nutrients content of the compost. The results of field study revealed that integration of KEC and inorganic K fertilizer (K2SO4) showed that growth and yield traits of maize (including K concentration of maize stover and grain) improved under the combined application of 60 and or 45 kg K ha-1 in conjunction with 300 kg KEC improved most of the as against 60 kg ha-1 K alone. The overall findings of present study suggested that the use of KEC @ 300 kg with 75% inorganic K fertilizer (45 kg K ha-1) improved growth, yield and K concentrations of hybrid maize.