Effects of Poultry Manure on the Growth, Physiology, Yield, and Yield-Related Traits of Maize Varieties

Ayesha Rasool; Abdul Ghani; Rab Nawaz; Saliha Ahmad; Khurram Shahzad; Ansa Rebi; Baber Ali; Jinxing Zhou; Muhammad Ibrar Ahmad; Muhammad Faran Tahir; Mona S Alwahibi; Mohamed S Elshikh; Sezai Ercisli

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c00880

Effects of Poultry Manure on the Growth, Physiology, Yield, and Yield-Related Traits of Maize Varieties

ACS Omega. 2023 Jun 1;8(29):25766-25779. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c00880. eCollection 2023 Jul 25.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan.
² Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7078, United States.
³ Jianshui Research Station, School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
⁴ Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
⁵ Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Horticulture, Agricultural Faculty, Ataturk Universitesi, Erzurum 25240, Türkiye.
⁹ HGF Agro, Ata Teknokent, Erzurum 25240, Türkiye.

Abstract

Industries play a significant role in the improvement of lifestyle and in the development of a country. However, the byproducts from these industries are a source of environmental pollution. The proper use of the byproducts of these industries can help to cope with environmental pollution. Some byproducts have high nutritional content and are good for crop plants. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of different rates of poultry manure on the soil chemical properties, growth, and yield of maize. A pot experiment was conducted in the botanical garden of the Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Pakistan to investigate the effect of various treatments of poultry manure (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 g/pot) on the morphological, physiological, and yield attributes of two maize varieties, Pearl and MMRI. Treatment T₁ was a mixture of soil and 75 g/pot poultry manure, T₂ was a mixture of soil and 50 g/pot poultry manure, T₃ was a mixture of soil and 25 g/pot poultry manure, and T₄ was 100 g/pot poultry manure. Soil without any industrial byproduct (100% soil only) was used as the control (T₀). The results revealed that the use of poultry manure enhanced the physical properties of the soil. Available P and soil organic matter were improved in soil amended with poultry manure. It is evident from the results that the vegetative growth of both maize varieties was significantly enhanced by growing in soil amended with poultry manure as compared to their respective control. Similar responses were also recorded for the physiological attributes of leaf area, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and water use efficiency of both varieties. Yield and yield-contributing traits of both maize varieties were significantly improved by growing plants in soil amended with 50 and 75 g/pot of poultry manure. It is also inferred that the use of 50 g/pot poultry manure in soil amendment is an eco-friendly and economically effective option for maize growers of arid and semiarid regions to enhance the kernel yield and profit per annum. Poultry manure could be useful to ameliorate the adverse effects of salinity stress on all parameters, particularly the grain yield. Furthermore, this would be a useful and economical method for the safe disposal of byproducts.