Maize production, economics and soil productivity under different organic ource of nutrients in eastern himalayan region, India

Replenishing nutrients through organic sources is essential to maintain the soil health and sustainability in Eastern Himalayan Region, India which is organic by default. Keeping this in mind an experiment was laid out on randomized block design with six treatments viz., T1: Vermicompost (VC; 2.5 Mg ha-1), T2: Poultry manure (PM; 1.25 Mg ha-1), T3: Swine manure (SM; 3.0 Mg ha-1), T4: Cow dung manure (CDM; 10.0 Mg ha-1), T5: Farm yard manure (FYM; 10.0 Mg ha-1) and T6: control and replicated thrice to study the effect of applied organic nutrients on growth and yield attributes of maize. The physical parameters like porosity, maximum water holding capacity (MWHC), field capacity (FC), permanent wilting point (PWP), bulk density (BD) and moisture releasing pattern was measured better when the crop was supplied with FYM followed by CDM. Chemical parameters like pH, Soil organic carbon (SOC), available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were recorded better on VC followed by PM over control. The growth, physiological parameters, yield attributes and yield were recorded higher on VC. The uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was higher on VC followed by PM, whereas least nutrients were taken up by control. Similarly the gross and net return was recorded higher on VC followed by PM, whereas, B: C ratio was recorded higher on PM followed by CDM. However the lowest economic returns were recorded on control. Agronomic efficiency was recorded higher on VC followed by PM. Keywords: Maize; Organic sources; Growth; Yield; Economics; Soil properties.