Fertilizer management and incorporation of legumes on performance of maize (Zea mays L.) in western hills of Nepal

One of the main obstacles limiting the production of the improved potential crops in Nepal is the low and diminishing productivity of soils. There is a need to take urgent measures to establish good agricultural management practices that check the rate of deterioration and build up soil fertility, In this regard, an experiment was conducted to determine the rotational effect of legumes and nutrient management on performance of maize at Horticulture Research Station (HRS), Dailekh, Nepal during 2018 and 2019. The experiment was laid out in split plot design which consists 4 cropping systems: fallow-maize, lentil-maize, chickpea-maize and field pea-maize as main plot and 4 combinations of manures and fertilizers: control, recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), Farmyard Manure (FYM), and RDF (50%) + FYM (50%) as sub-plot which were replicated three times. The highest grain yield of 1598 kg ha 1 was obtained from field pea followed by 1388 kg ha 1 in chickpea and 1151 kg/ha in lentil and significantly higher grain yield of 1707 kg ha 1 was obtained from the application of FYM alone. Results obtained showed that yield of maize was increased by 28.8%, 13.5% and 12.7% by use of legumes: chickpea, lentil and field pea, respectively as rotational crop over fallow-maize cropping system. Similarly, the data revealed that significantly higher growth characters of maize were recorded from application of RDF followed by combination of RDF plus FYM. The grain yield of maize was increased by 68.4%, 38.5% and 16.4% from the application of RDF, RDF plus FYM and FYM alone, respectively over control plots. The incorporation of grain legumes like chickpea, lentil and field pea can be effective as rotational crop with maize and application of organic and inorganic fertilizer increase productivity of legumes as well as maize which make viable alternative to agricultural sustainability.