Abstract
Formulating new integrated plant nutrient management (IPNM) strategies in order to sustain crop production and protect the environment has become an important issue in the present agricultural system. Therefore, a field study was carried out in the two seasons 2016 and 2017 to formulate the best IPNM strategies for improving the growth, yield, and quality of maize grown in an arid agro-ecosystem. The IPNM comprised full-dose NPK (T1); composted agricultural wastes based on cow manure (T2), poultry manure (T3), and a mixture of sheep and camel manure (T4) as activators at the rate of 5 t ha(-1) for each; half-dose NPK was combined with the mixture of the three types of composted agricultural wastes at the rate of 5 t ha(-1) (T5) or 10 t ha(-1) (T6), and a mixture of the three types of composted agricultural wastes at the rate of 10 t ha(-1) (T7), 15 t ha(-1) (T8), or 20 t ha(-1) (T9), either with or without biofertilizers. The results showed that, as compared to T1, T6 or T9 significantly increased different growth, yield, and quality parameters of maize by 11.4-27.3%, 0.8-31.8%, and 4.6-17.2%, while T2 significantly decreased these parameters by 2.2-17.8%, 3.5-16.7%, and 4.5-9.4%, respectively. Seed inoculation with biofertilizers significantly increased different parameters of maize by 1.8-12.9%, compared to that of the non-inoculation seed treatment. Principal component analysis showed a strong relationship between different parameters of maize and treatments T5, T6, T8, and T9 with seed inoculation. Further, a significant and linear relationship was observed between different parameters of maize and the amount of N (R-2 = 0.65-0.77), P (R-2 = 0.58-0.71), and K (R-2 = 0.63-0.73). These results indicated that any IPNM strategies that manage the NPK status and dynamics in the soil are a promising avenue for improving the growth and productivity of maize grown in the arid agro-ecosystem.