Improvement in nutrient uptake and yield of wheat by combined use of urea and compost

Organic city wastes are recycled to prepare composts with improved physical properties and enriched with nutrients for their better utilization. Combined application of composts along with inorganic fertilizers may sustain crop productivity and soil fertility. Present study was conducted to assess the impact of 3 city waste composts (2 nonenriched and 1 enriched with 25% N requirement of crop) on the economical utilization of urea in wheat. Generally, fertilizer application along with compost increased the yield, N and P uptake by wheat compared to the fertilizer alone. Performance of the treatments was found in the order: NEC (nitrogen enriched compost) + fertilizer nonenriched compost + fertilizer fertilizer. The NEC along with lower fertilizer-N rate (75 mg kg^-1 soil) was found at par with that of the highest fertilizer rate (175 mg N kg^-1 soil) alone. The results showed that the use of NEC (200 mg kg^-1 soil) for wheat production could be a useful tool to improve the efficiency of commercial N-fertilizer.