Abstract

Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved. Furthermore, maize (Zea mays L.) crop is the 3^rdcereal crop of Pakistan after wheat and rice. According to the economic survey of Pakistan, it is cultivated on the area of approximately, 1.11 million hectare and production from this area was 4.04 million tones. A field experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-Pakistan to examine the effect of organic and inorganic fertilization on maize productivity. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), with four replications. Two maize hybrids were used in this experiment. The results showed that maize yield and its component such as cobs per plant, cob length, number of grains per cob, 1000-grain weight were maximum when the plots were fertilized at 100 kg N ha^-1 as urea + 100 kg N ha^-1 as poultry manure. Further research is desired to investigate maximum yield by using organic source of fertilizer than inorganic source of fertilizer to avoid lethal effects on human health created by inorganic fertilizers.

Key words: Organic farming, maize productivity, inorganic fertilizer, semi-arid conditions, Pakistan.