Abstract
Purpose
The growth, productivity, and seed setting of maize crops are hindered by the nitrogen deficiency, while the peach leftovers increase the availability, concentration, uptake, and efficiency of nitrogen usage in plant tissues.
Methods
Three P levels (50, 75, and 100 kg ha− 1), three peach organic sources (biochar, compost and dry-based residues) and two beneficial microorganisms (PSB and Trichoderma) were treated to determine its impact on N concentration in grain, leaf, stem, stover, and N uptake and N usage efficiency (NUE), Agronomic efficiency (AE), and partial factor productivity of N (PFPN).
Results
Planned mean comparison showed that highest N concentration in tissues enhanced in treated plots as compared to control plots. Among the organic sources peach biochar produced highest grain N content (2.7g kg− 1), leaf N content (1.8g kg− 1), stem N content (2.5g kg− 1), stover N contents (4.3g kg− 1), GNU (12.6kg ha− 1), SNU (33.7kg ha− 1), TNU (46.2kg ha− 1), NUE (28.4%). Soil application of Trichoderma produced higher N content in tissues as compared to PSB. P fertilization is the utmost need of the crop plant and noted that highest grain Ncontent (2.7 g kg− 1), leaf N content (1.7 g kg− 1), stalk N content (2.5 g kg− 1), stover N contents (4.2 g kg− 1), GNU (13.6 kg ha− 1), SNU and TNU by maize (47.0 kg ha− 1) were recorded with 100 kg P ha− 1 application.
Conclusion
Biochar combined with PSB raised the N content in the tissues of the leaves and stems, while biochar combined with trichoderma improved the N content of grains, SNU, and TNU. GNU, SNU, and TNU improved with biochar and 100 kg P ha− 1. Although the addition of 75kg P ha− 1 to either compost or biochar increased NUE, the combination of biochar and 75kg P ha− 1 increased AE and PFPN. The application of Trichoderma treated with 100 kg P ha− 1 to the soil enhanced GNU, SNU, and TNU, according to the interaction between BM x PL.