Effect of Combination of Soil Granular NPK and Foliar Liquid Fertilizer on Nutrients Uptake and Maize Yield

Investigation to compare the effect of soil basal granular NPK fertilization to its combination with liquid foliar fertilization on maize nutrients uptake and yield was conducted on experimental station of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Obafemi Awolowo University, Moor Plantation Ibadan located at Ikenne, Ogun state Nigeria; high rain forest agro-ecology and experimental farm of the Nigeria Institute For Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) at Ikoga, Badagry, Lagos state; coastal rain forest agro-ecology in 2009 cropping season. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments consisted of different levels of soil applied NPK (20-10-10) fertilizer in combination with liquid foliar fertilizer from Vioryl products, sole 100 kg/ha NPK and sole liquid foliar fertilizer products. Application of 100 kg/ha granular NPK fertilizer combined with foliar fertilizer application resulted in higher dry matter, cob and grain weights, yield and more concentrations of N, P, K, Mg and Zn in maize tissues than individual application of NPK fertilizer or foliar fertilizer in both locations. The increase due to the soil application of NPK fertilizer at different levels (100, 80, 60 and 40 kg/ha) combined with foliar fertilizer compared to the sole application of 100 kg/ha NPK fertilizer varied from 16 to 60% at Ikenne and 17 to 48% at Badagry for maize grain weight, and 6 to 26% at Ikenne and 6 to 30% at Badagry for maize dry matter yield. Based on the results of this study, farmers are advised to use the foliar liquid fertilizer as a nutrient complement rather than as the basic fertilizer as is envisaged. Research needs to be conducted to ascertain the influence of seasons on various types of fertilizer applications on maize production.