Economically Optimal Rate for Nutrient Application to Maize in the Semi-deciduous Forest Zone of Ghana
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Economically Optimal Rate for Nutrient Application to Maize in the Semi-deciduous Forest Zone of Ghana Benedicta Essel 1,2 & Robert Clement Abaidoo 3,4 & Andrews Opoku 1 & Nana Ewusi-Mensah 1 Received: 6 November 2019 / Accepted: 24 March 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Low inherent nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents of smallholder farms limit maize grain yield. Maize grain yield response to N, P, and K mineral fertilizer application and economically optimal rates for nitrogen (EORN), phosphorus (EORP), and potassium (EORK) were evaluated on a Ferric Acrisol within the semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana. The nutrient rates evaluated were N (0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 kg N ha−1), P (0, 30, 60, and 90 kg ha−1 P2O5), and K (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha−1 K2O). The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block with three replications using an incomplete factorial design. Nutrient responses were determined using asymptotic quadratic-plus plateau functions. The best nitrogen rate for all P and K levels was 60 kg ha−1, which gave grain yield of 5 t ha−1. Nitrogen uptake, N agronomic and N recovery efficiencies peaked at 60 kg N ha−1 while N partial factor productivity declined with increasing N application rate. Cost to grain price ratios (CP) were 1.29, 1.65, and 1.65 for N, P, and K, respectively. The EORN was 61 kg ha−1, 32% less than the recommended 90 kg N ha−1 for maize production in the semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana. Nitrogen application had the lowest CP ratio, making its application economically profitable than P and K. The findings suggest that the application of N at 61 kg N ha−1 to maize is economically profitable than at higher application rates. However, further studies should be conducted on farmers’ fields to validate the results obtained. Keywords Fertilizer response . Optimization . Asymptotic function . Net return to fertilizer . Nutrient use efficiency . Cost to grain price ratio
1 Introduction Maize is the most important cereal crop in Ghana with an estimated annual production of 750,000 ha (Tetteh et al. 2017). The Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-020-00240-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Benedicta Essel [email protected] 1
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
2
CSIR - Soil Research Institute, Academy Post Office, Kwadaso, Kumasi, Ghana
3
Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
4
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, PMB 5320, Oyo Road, Ibadan, Nigeria
crop is predominantly cultivated by smallholder resourceconstrained farmers, mostly under rain-fed conditions. Despite the large hectares of farmland cultivated yearly, the average grain yield of maize on farmers’ fields in Ghana in 2014 was 1.7 t ha−1 (FAOSTAT 2019) which is approximately
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