Effect of combining poultry manure, inorganic phosphorus fertilizers and phosphate solublizing bacteria on growth, yield, protein content and P uptake in maize

Phosphorus (P) is a limited resource, and its efficient use is a main task in sustainable agriculture. Due to high costs of imported fertilizers, focus is now shifting to solutions that utilize local resources and biofertilizers. In a field experiment, the effect of combination of two inorganic phosphorus (P) fertilizer i. e. diammonium phosphate (DAP), single super phosphate (SSP), poultry manure (PM) and phosphate solublizing bacteria (PSB) on the on growth, yield, energy content and P utilization efficiency (PUE) of maize was evaluated in Typic Hapludolls acidic soil of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Both inorganic P fertilizers when applied in combination with PM and inoculation with PSB significantly increased plant height, leaf area and chlorophyll content over control. Grain, dry matter, biomass yield and protein content increased by 48-99, 47-64, 48-75 and 61-104% over control. P uptake increased from 13 g kg-1 in control to 37 g kg-1 where DAP, PM and PSB was combined while increase in PUE was 7-24%. When applied in combination with PM, DAP+PM+PSB was the best treatment among P sources to be utilized.