Growth and Yield Responses of Three Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. var. Saccharata) Varieties to Local-based Liquid Organic Fertilizer

Abstract

Solid organic fertilizing for organically sweet corn production should be combined with foliar application to improve fertilizing effectiveness. Each sweet corn variety had different response to particular liquid organic fertilizer (LOF). This experiment aimed to determine growth and yields of three sweet corn varieties to local-based LOF was conducted at CAPS research station (950 m above sea level) from March to June 2015, arranged in a factorial completely randomized block design with three replicates. The first factor was three sweet corn varieties, i.e. Talenta, Jambore and Asian Honey, and the second factor was five LOF concentrations, i.e. 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 ppm, respectively. Result indicated that sweet corn varieties significantly affected plant height, plant leaf-area, root fresh-weight, weight of green ears, weight of dehusk ears, but did not affect diameter of dehusk ear and shoot fresh-weight. LOF concentrations did not affect all observed parameters. So did the interaction between varieties and LOF concentrations, except on shoot fresh-weight.  Asian Honey variety had the highest plant height, plant leaf-area, root fresh-weight, weight of green ears, weight of dehusk ears. There were no different in plant diameter and shoot fresh weight among the tested varieties. Further research should be focused on the use of higher concentration of local-based LOF to provide effective complementary organic fertilizing in sweet corn production