Abstract
In calcareous soils, phosphorus (P) availability to plant is impaired due to the formation of insoluble complexes with calcium and magnesium. Therefore, this study was executed to compare the P use efficiency (PUE) of four different P sources [rock phosphate (RP), acidulated rock phosphate (ARP), single super phosphate (SSP) and di ammonium phosphate (DAP)] alone or pre-treated with organic amendments (farm yard manure (FYM) enriched compost, simple compost and humic acid (HA)) along with control in maize crop under calcareous soils. All treatments irrespective of P sources received 90 kg P(2)O(5) ha(-1). Phosphorus application regardless of its sources and combination with organic amendments significantly improved maize growth, yield as well as P uptake and PUE. Rock phosphate when applied alone was recorded inferior but its performance significantly improved with compost or its pre-addition with FYM and HA, that further enhanced upon acidulation. Maize grain yield increased by 21, 22.2, 67.9 and 94% with RP, ARP, ARP enriched compost and ARP+ compost respectively, over control. Similarly, PUE of DAP improved from 31.7 to 43.1 and 39 with sample and enriched compost correspondingly. Post-harvest soil and grain P were at par for SSP, ARP and DAP alone or in conjugation with organic amendments when averaged across the amendments. These results suggested that pretreatment of P sources with organic amendments is an economical and more feasible approach to improve maize yield and PUE. Moreover, on-farm acidulation of RP may give at par results with SSP and DAP with cheaper rate and hence recommended for P management in maize in alkaline calcareous soils.