Efficacy of soil amendments on agronomic traits, yield and nutritional quality of Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. var. saccharata)

Abstract

The different types of fertilizer and levels were evaluated to determine the optimum fertilizer type and level and as well to suggest the better agronomic practices for increasing yield and nutritional quality of sweetcorn. The experiment was carried out at the teaching and research farm of Obafemi Awolowo University during the 2018 early and late seasons. The experiment was a factorial (2x4x6) experiment involvedtwo seasons, four fertilizer types (Urea, NPK, organomineral and Organic fertilizer) and six fertilizer levels (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125kg/ha). Data was collected on the agronomic, yield and nutritional quality of sweetcorn. The fresh kernel was evaluated at the time of harvest for total sugar content and proximate analysis. the data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the effects of treatments on the parameters and significant means were separated by Least Significant Difference (LSD) at (0.05) probability level. The results of this study showed that season, fertilizer types and levels significantly affected the growth and yield of sweet corn. Fertilizer types and levels significantly enhanced the agronomic parameters subsequently resulted in higher yield. The significant effect of fertilizer types and levels is observed on the total sugar concentration of sweet corn. The NPK 100kg/ha fertilizer type and level have the highest total sugar concentration which significantly different from others. It is, therefore, concluded that NPK fertilizer type and 100 Kg/ha significantly increased the growth, yield and nutritional quality of sweet corn.