Maize And Fertilizers
For farmers to attain high yields in maize ( 11 tons and above) it is not only top dressing fertilizer that is critical, but a whole range of nutrients including phosphate potash and the micronutrients as well. The question frequently asked by farmers is how much fertilizer to apply to attain the said 11 tons per ha. Quantities Nitrogen: The nitrogen requirements of your maize crop come from both applied compound and top dressing fertilizers. Only that at initial growth maize plants require very little nitrogen, with the rest being applied at vegetative to flowering stages. Bearing in mind that the total applied nitrogen should be in the region of 180 kg N. Nitrogen taken up by a plant is made up of two forms; that portion applied by the farmer and that part already resident in the soil ( also called residual fertility). One of the purposes of soil analysis is to ascertain how much fertility is held in the soil and therefore how much is needed as additional. So How mu...