EFFECT OF TILLAGE METHODS AND FERTILIZER LEVELS ON MAIZE PRODUCTION

A field experiment was conducted at National Agriculture Research Center (NARC), Islamabad, Pakistan to observe the emergence and grain yield of maize crop under different fertilizer applications viz. 100-50-50, 150-75-75 and 200-100-100 kg ha^-1 NPK and cattle manure 6000, 8000 and 10,000 kg ha^-1 applied in the plots ploughed through tillage practices with deep tillage, conventional tillage and zero-tillage. The non significant interaction between fertilizers and tillage methods as well as between cattle manure and tillage methods each with three levels were found. It indicated that fertilizers and manures should be studied independently using pair wise comparison. Pair wise comparisons indicated that the fertilizer at the rate of 150-75-75 kg ha^-1 (NPK) was suitable for best germination rate and grain yield of maize. Similarly the deep tillage was preferred over conventional and zero tillage, on the other hand, the highest level of manure (10000 kg ha^-1) was recommended for best germination rate and grain yield, where as 8000 kg ha^-1 for grain weight and number of grains per cob.