Effects of Lime and Compost on Acidic Soil Amelioration and Grain Yield of Maize at Jimma, Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

Maize is the third important cereal crop globally after wheat and rice. Though it is consumed in all regions of Ethiopia, the crop is used as stable food in western and south western part of the country. However, Soil acidity and nutrients depletion are serious limitations in maize productivity improvement.  Now a day, increasing maize production through expansion of cultivable land is no more possible.   Productivity of the crop on less fertile acidic soils can be improved by integrated use of soil amendments like lime, compost as well as farm yard manure and proper fertilizer management. In Ethiopia, integrated approach of soil fertility management is attractive prime importance these days. The objective of this study is to evaluate effects of manure (FYM),compost, and their interactions with lime and inorganic fertilizers on soil properties and maize productivity. The experiment was conducted for consecutive cropping seasons 2010-2013 at Melko Jima Agricultural Research Center,. The Center is found in South Western Ethiopia; in Oromiya National Regional State and located at 7°40'47"N latitude and 36°49'47"E longitude. The mean maximum and minimum temperature of the Center are 26.2 and 11.3°C respectively. The elevation of the Center is 1,753m above sea level and it receives 1,529.5mm average annual Rainfall. The design was RCB design with three replications. Combinations of organic, inorganic fertilizers and lime significantly (P < 0.05) influenced maize grain yield in all cropping seasons. The result also revealed that in the first cropping season, recommended NP gave significantly higher yield than other combinations. On the other hand, recommended NP + recommended lime resulted in significantly higher grain yield than other combinations in 2011 and 2012 cropping seasons. It is shown that application of organic, inorganic fertilizers and lime significantly affected soil properties such as pH, exchangeable acidity, available phosphorus organic carbon content and cation exchange capacity. Accordingly, the use of compost alone, compost and lime significantly improved soil reaction in relation to other combinations. However the use of N and P and its combinations with organic fertilizer and lime did not improve soil pH. This indicates the soil acidity aggravate effect of ammoniac fertilizes. Compost,  together N and P, compost with lime as well as half of compost, lime and recommended N and P significantly lowered exchangeable acidity of the soil. The use of compost alone and as well as compost and lime simultaneously significantly increased available P in soil solution relative to other combinations. It was also observed that application of compost alone and simultaneously with lime improved CEC and organic carbon stack of the soil. Generally, the use of integrated compost, manure , lime and in directly and indirect improving soil chemical and physical properties. provide significant quantities of available nitrogen, P, Mo and B, and more favorable conditions for microbial mediated reactions. Integrate use of lime, organic nutrient sources and inorganic fertilizers are beneficial in improving maize productivity and ameliorating properties of acid soil.

Keywords: Compost, Exchangeable acidity, FYM, Lime, P fertilizer, Soil pH

DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/12-3-03

Publication date: February 28^th 2021