Purpose The effects of a novel seaweed fertilizer combined with traditional compound fertilizer on maize yield and growth characteristics were studied, which could provide a scientific basis for its popularization and application.
Method A randomized field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of the seaweed fertilizer on yield, biomass, plant height, stem diameter, leaf SPAD value and other agronomic traits of maize with Jinhe 658. There were seven treatments: CK, CF1+S1, CF2+S1, CF3+S1, CF1+S2, CF2+S2, and CF3+S2 (CF1-CF3 were 1500, 1350, and 1200 kg/hm2 compound fertilizer, respectively, and S1-S2 were 7.5 and 15 kg/hm2 seaweed fertilizer, respectively).
Result The yields in CF1+S1 and CF1+S2 treatments which added with the seaweed fertilizers were respectively increased by 18.9% and 15.9% compared with the traditional compound fertilizer as CK treatment (P<0.05). And it can still achieve the effect of no reduction when the seaweed fertilizer combined with the compound fertilizer with 10% or 20% reduction. Compared with CK treatment, CF1+S1 treatment significantly increased the maize biomass of different growth stages by 3.9%-6.4%, plant height at the jointing stage by 5.1%, stem diameter by 8.9% and leaf SPAD value at milk stage by 9.7% (P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in yield, stem diameter and SPAD value between different seaweed fertilizer treatments under the same compound fertilizer rate (P>0.05). The net income in CF1+S1 treatment which was added 7.5 kg/hm2 seaweed fertilizer was the highest, which was increased by 32.5% compared with CK treatment. Also the CF1+S1 treatment increased the net income by 16.5% and 21.6% compared with CF2+S1 and CF3+S1, respectively.
Conclusion Compared with the traditional compound fertilizer, the combined application of 7.5 kg/hm2 seaweed fertilizer could significantly increase the plant height, stem diameter, leaf SPAD value and biomass of spring maize, thus increasing the yield and economic benefit.
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