IMPROVING MAIZE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN RELATION TO SOIL APPLIED ELEMENTAL SULFUR

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to ascertain the effect of varying soil applied elemental sulfur (S) levels viz; 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kg ha-1, on maize growth and development. Experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Growth and development parameters were computed; included leaf area per plant LAI, LAD, CGR, NAR and TDM and experimental results revealed that increasing S levels were pragmatic in improving maize performance. However, soil applied elemental S @ 30 kg ha-1 proved to be beneficial involved in growth and yield improvement. Maximum CGR (23.44 g m-2 d-1), NAR (6.23 g m-2 d-1) and LAI (4.85) was in plots where S was applied at 30 kg ha-1 while least LAI (4.40), LAD (193.45 days), TDM (1178.13 kg ha-1) was in control treatment. Therefore, elemental S @ 30 kg ha-1 was noted to be most suitable for sustainable maize production amongst all other treatments.