Abstract
Low soil fertility is recognized as the major constraint to food production and food security in Ghana. An important practice that restores some level of fertility is long fallow, however this is no longer practiced due to increased pressure on land for other purposes. This has resulted in decline in crop yields in areas (forest-savannah transition zone or Sub-humid Ghana) which are known to be one of the major food baskets for the country. The soils are generally poor and require mineral fertilizer to increase crop productivity. In order to increase food production and crop productivity, the use of mineral fertilizer is required other than the expansion of arable land. The aim of this paper is to assess the influence of Phosphorus and Nitrogen fertilizers on the yield of two maize varieties and nutrient use efficiency in the forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana. Experimental data from two maize varieties (Zea mays L.) grown under four concentrations of nitrogen (N) and three concentrations of phosphorus (P) in the 2008 major and minor seasons at two sites in Ejura, Ghana, were used to assess the influence of P and N on the yield, nutrient uptake and use efficiency in the forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana. Analysis of variance showed a statistically significant effect of N and P on grain yield, total biomass, grain N uptake and apparent N recovery. Increasing N concentration significantly increased grain yield, grain N uptake and total dry matter production irrespective of application of P fertilizer. The application of P fertilizer increased N use efficiency with grain yield ranging from 918 (control) to 4953 kg ha−1 (N4P2) and 824 (control) to 4267 kg ha−1 (N4P2) for Obatanpa and Dorke maize, respectively. The two cultivars were significantly different from each other with higher grain yield produced by Obatanpa than Dorke. The application of inorganic P fertilizer increased the efficient utilization of inorganic N fertilizer by the plants in grain yield and total biomass production. Hence, P nutrition of soils is critical for the efficient use of inorganic N fertilizer in the area. Inorganic fertilizer use in the study area was agronomically efficient, though generally more efficient at the Ejura farm site (Experiment 1 and 3) than the Agricultural College site (Experiment 2 and 4). Owing to the spatial variability in soil nutrients in the study area, site-specific fertilizer testing is needed to increase nutrient use efficiency and crop productivity. To improve the rate of fertilizer adoption and use by farmers, the government should subsidize the cost of fertilizer to make it affordable for farmers to purchase to increase crop productivity.
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Claims 13
Claim · model-written summary
N and P significantly affected maize grain yield and total biomass.
Zea maysNot reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Analysis of variance showed a statistically significant effect of N and P on grain yield, total biomass, grain N uptake and apparent N recovery.”
Claim · model-written summary
N and P significantly affected maize grain N uptake and apparent N recovery.
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Analysis of variance showed a statistically significant effect of N and P on grain yield, total biomass, grain N uptake and apparent N recovery.”
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing N significantly increased maize grain yield.
- Treatment
- Increasing N concentratione0
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- irrespective of application of P fertilizere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Increasing N concentration significantly increased grain yield, grain N uptake and total dry matter production irrespective of application of P fertilizer.”
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing N significantly increased maize grain N uptake.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Increasing N concentration significantly increased grain yield, grain N uptake and total dry matter production irrespective of application of P fertilizer.”
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing N significantly increased maize total dry matter production.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Increasing N concentration significantly increased grain yield, grain N uptake and total dry matter production irrespective of application of P fertilizer.”
Claim · model-written summary
P fertilizer increased maize N use efficiency.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“The application of P fertilizer increased N use efficiency with grain yield ranging from 918 (control) to 4953 kg ha−1 (N4P2) and 824 (control) to 4267 kg ha−1 (N4P2) for Obatanpa and Dorke maize, respectively.”
Claim · model-written summary
Obatanpa maize yielded 4953 kg ha−1 under N4P2 versus 918 in control.
- Material
- Obatanpae0
- Treatment
- N4P2e0
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- higherinferrede0
- Value
- 4953 kg ha−1e0
- Qualifier
- 918 (control)e0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“The application of P fertilizer increased N use efficiency with grain yield ranging from 918 (control) to 4953 kg ha−1 (N4P2) and 824 (control) to 4267 kg ha−1 (N4P2) for Obatanpa and Dorke maize, respectively.”
Claim · model-written summary
Dorke maize yielded 4267 kg ha−1 under N4P2 versus 824 in control.
- Material
- Dorkee0
- Treatment
- N4P2e0
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- higherinferrede0
- Value
- 4267 kg ha−1e0
- Qualifier
- 824 (control)e0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“The application of P fertilizer increased N use efficiency with grain yield ranging from 918 (control) to 4953 kg ha−1 (N4P2) and 824 (control) to 4267 kg ha−1 (N4P2) for Obatanpa and Dorke maize, respectively.”
Claim · model-written summary
Obatanpa grain yield was significantly higher than Dorke grain yield.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“The two cultivars were significantly different from each other with higher grain yield produced by Obatanpa than Dorke.”
Claim · model-written summary
Inorganic P fertilizer increased maize utilization of inorganic N in grain yield and biomass production.
- Treatment
- inorganic P fertilizere0
- Outcome
- efficient utilization of inorganic N fertilizere0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- grain yield and total biomass productione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“The application of inorganic P fertilizer increased the efficient utilization of inorganic N fertilizer by the plants in grain yield and total biomass production.”
Claim · model-written summary
Inorganic fertilizer was agronomically efficient, more so at Ejura farm than Agricultural College.
- Outcome
- agronomically efficiente0
- Direction
- more efficiente0
- Comparator
- Agricultural College sitee0
- Setting
- Ejura farm sitee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Inorganic fertilizer use in the study area was agronomically efficient, though generally more efficient at the Ejura farm site (Experiment 1 and 3) than the Agricultural College site (Experiment 2 and 4).”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommended site-specific fertilizer testing to improve nutrient use efficiency and crop productivity.
- Outcome
- site-specific fertilizer testinge0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Owing to the spatial variability in soil nutrients in the study area, site-specific fertilizer testing is needed to increase nutrient use efficiency and crop productivity.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommended government fertilizer subsidies to improve adoption and crop productivity.
- Outcome
- government should subsidize the cost of fertilizere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“To improve the rate of fertilizer adoption and use by farmers, the government should subsidize the cost of fertilizer to make it affordable for farmers to purchase to increase crop productivity.”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · nutrient: efficiency · Zea mays (maize)Results differ
173 papers in the same direction as this paper · 12 in the opposite direction · 3 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- negative
- negative
185 papers more in this group
See all 189 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.