Liming and Integrated Nutrient Management for Enhancing Maize Productivity on Acidic Soils of Northeast India

Lime application and integrated nutrient management is often recommended to increase the crop productivity on acidic soils. To ascertain the individual and synergistic effects of lime, NPK and farm yard manure (FYM) application on maize productivity, a field experiment was undertaken on an acid Alfisol (pH 4.6) of Meghalaya, Northeast India. Application of recommended NPK dose (80, 60 and 40 kg/ha of N, P 2 O 5 and K 2 O) resulted in 53% yield improvement, while liming @ 300 kg/ha (furrow application) caused 32 % yield increase over control. Combined application of NPK + lime resulted in 147% yield increase while application of FYM @ 5 t/ha along with NPK + lime further boosted the yield improvement up to 291% over control. Results of this study suggest that liming along with integrated nutrient management practices, if adopted properly, can lead to more than three-fold increase in maize productivity on acidic soils of Meghalaya and other north-eastern states of India with similar soils.