Abstract
Soil acidity and very low nutrient status are major production-limiting factors for maize production in most parts of the savanna agroecological zones (AEZ) of northern Ghana. Therefore, effective nutrient management is critical to increase productivity. During a two-year study across six locations in the Guinea Savanna AEZ in northern Ghana, we evaluated the interactive effects of liming and balanced fertilization on maize productivity in acid soils. Six fertilization strategies – (i) balanced (containing all essential limiting nutrients), (ii) balanced with sulfur omitted (minus-S), (iii) balanced with zinc omitted (minus-Zn), (iv) balanced with boron omitted (minus-B), (v) NPK-only, and (vi) control (no nutrients supplied) – were evaluated, each with or without liming. Applying only lime without fertilizer application increased maize yield from an average of ∼0.55 t ha − 1 to ∼0.92 t ha − 1. For NPK-only fertilization, liming led to an increase in yield from an average of ∼1.68 t ha − 1 to ∼2.84 t ha − 1. For balanced fertilization, lime application resulted in an additional maize grain yield of ∼53% compared to treatment without lime application. With liming, the minus-Zn treatment resulted in a significant yield decrease of an average of ∼30% compared to balanced fertilization, suggesting that combined application of lime and Zn should be advocated to better sustain crop productivity in this region. We conclude that, to improve maize productivity in acid soils in order to ensure increased profitability and improved household income, fertilizer recommendations that promote balanced fertilization must include liming as part of the nutrient application package.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Lime without fertilizer increased maize yield from about 0.55 to 0.92 t ha − 1.
- Treatment
- only lime without fertilizer applicatione0
- Outcome
- maize yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- ∼0.92 t ha − 1e0
- Qualifier
- ∼0.55 t ha − 1e0
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Applying only lime without fertilizer application increased maize yield from an average of ∼0.55 t ha − 1 to ∼0.92 t ha − 1”
Claim · model-written summary
With NPK-only fertilization, liming increased maize yield from about 1.68 to 2.84 t ha − 1.
- Treatment
- liminge0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- ∼2.84 t ha − 1e0
- Qualifier
- ∼1.68 t ha − 1e0
- Comparator
- NPK-only fertilizatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For NPK-only fertilization, liming led to an increase in yield from an average of ∼1.68 t ha − 1 to ∼2.84 t ha − 1”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Lime with balanced fertilization increased maize grain yield by about 53% versus no lime.
- Treatment
- lime applicatione0
- Outcome
- maize grain yielde0
- Direction
- additionale0
- Value
- ∼53%e0
- Comparator
- treatment without lime applicatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For balanced fertilization, lime application resulted in an additional maize grain yield of ∼53% compared to treatment without lime application”
Claim · model-written summary
With lime, omission of zinc decreased yield by about 30% relative to balanced fertilization.
- Treatment
- minus-Zn treatmente0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- decreasee0
- Value
- ∼30%e0
- Comparator
- balanced fertilizatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“With liming, the minus-Zn treatment resulted in a significant yield decrease of an average of ∼30% compared to balanced fertilization”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend including lime with balanced fertilization for maize productivity in acid soils.
- Treatment
- balanced fertilizatione0
- Outcome
- must include liming as part of the nutrient application packagee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fertilizer recommendations that promote balanced fertilization must include liming as part of the nutrient application package”
t0“maize”
The same questions in other papers
lime · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
184 papers in the same direction as this paper · 31 in the opposite direction · 3 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- positive
215 papers more in this group
See all 219 papers →fertilization · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
3,484 papers in the same direction as this paper · 338 in the opposite direction · 85 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- positive
3,904 papers more in this group
See all 3,908 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.