IMPACT OF LEVEL AND SOURCE OF COMPOST BASED ORGANIC MATERIAL ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF AUTUMN MAIZE (Zea mays L.)

Organic manure from different sources could be an effective substitute of chemical fertilizers. Therefore, the present study compares the effect of varying level (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 t ha^-1) of two types of compost, i.e poultry manure compost (PM compost) and press-mud compost (PrM compost) on the yield of maize. The experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan for two consecutive years 2011 and 2012. Results of this study revealed that all the levels and sources of compost based organic material had significant effect on the yield and yield parameters of autumn maize. Maximum plant height, cob diameter, cob length, cob weight, number of grain rows per cob, number of grains per cob, 1000-grain weight biological yield, grain yield and harvest index were produced by the application of 10 t ha^-1 PM compost. Whereas, the number of cobs per plant was not significantly affected by level and source of compost based organic material. It was concluded that 10 t ha^-1 PM compost could be used lucratively for optimizing maize yield.