Maize Productivity, Economic Returns and Phosphorus Use Efficiency as Influenced by Lime, Minjingu Rock Phosphate and NPK Inorganic Fertilizer

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Date
2021Author
Cheptoek, Rodah P.
Gitari, Harun I.
Mochoge, Benson
Kisaka, Oscar M.
Otieno, Erick
Maitra, Sagar
Nasar, Jamal
Mahmoud, F. Seleiman
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This study was conducted to examine the effects of Lime, Minjingu Rock Phosphate (MRP) and inorganic
NPK fertilizer on maize productivity, profitability and phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) based on grain
yield (PUEY) and economic returns (PUEE). The study was carried out for two rain seasons in Kenya and
the treatments were Lime, MRP, NPK, Lime + MRP, Lime + NPK, and a control. The highest height (185
cm) was recorded in MRP treated plots whereas the lowest values were observed in control (162 cm) and
Lime (166 cm). The lowermost yield of 2.2 t ha-1 was attained from the non-amended plots. The value
increased by 4.0, 2.9, 1.8, 1.7 and 0.8 t ha-1 in MRP, NPK, Lime + MRP, Lime + NPK and Lime treatments.
The use of MRP proved to be the most lucrative with a disposable income of US$ 2122ha-1. PUEY was such
that Lime + NPK (95 kg of maize grain yield for every kg of p supplied) < Lime + MRP (116) < NPK (125)
< control (139) < MRP (170) < Lime (188) whereas PUEE was lowest in plots treated with Lime + NPK (38
$ kg-1) and Lime + MRP (46 $ kg-1), and highest in Lime (75 $ kg-1) and MRP (68 $ kg-1) plots. The results
from the study indicate that MRP amendment is essential in optimizing not only maize productivity and
economic returns but also phosphorus efficacy.
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https://renupublishers.com/images/article/IJBSv8n1g.pdfhttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/22610