Abstract

In order to evaluate the effect of organic and inorganic phosphorus (P) sources on quality attributes of maize crop, a field experiment was conducted in a neutral normal soil during June 2007. The experimental plot was located at Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India. The experimental soil has the pH of 7.2, EC 4 dSm^-1 and the available phosphorus content is 8 kg ha^-1.There were nine treatments imposed in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications with the plot size of 5 × 4 m. The treatments comprised the farm nutrient resources such as green manure, farmyard manure and vermicompost along with inorganic phosphate sources such as single super phosphate and di-ammonium phosphate. The different combinations included here were Control (T₁), SSP alone (T₂), SSP + GM at 10 t ha^-1 (T₃), SSP + FYM at 12.5 t ha^-1 (T₄), SSP +  VC at 0.5 t ha^-1 (T₅), DAP alone (T₆), DAP + GM at 10 t ha^-1 (T₇), DAP + FYM at 12.5 t ha^-1 (T₈) and DAP + VC at 0.5 t ha^-1 (T₉). The recommended dose of phosphorus for maize crop is 62.5 kg ha^-1.The treatments were replicated thrice in a randomized block design with the plot size of 5 × 4 m. The results of the experiment showed that the application of SSP + GM at 10 t ha^-1 registered significant improvement in the quality parameters such as starch (60.25%), total sugars (4.41%) and crude protein content (8.03%) over other treatments.

Key words: Maize, starch, total sugars, crude protein.