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Abstract

Worldwide, nitrogen (N) deficiency is the main yield limiting factor owing to its losses via leaching and volatilization. Urease inhibitors slow down urea hydrolysis in soil by inhibiting urease enzyme activities whereas gibberellic acid is growth regulator. That is why, we evaluated the role of urease inhibitor [N-(n-butyl)thiophosphorictriamide (NBPT)] and gibberellic acid (GA3) in improving nitrogen uptake and yield of maize under different N levels (120 and 150 kg ha−۱) along with control. Both N levels alone and in combination with GA3 and NBPT significantly increased yield and yield components of maize over control. In addition, 150 kg N ha−۱ + NBPT + GA3 produced highest biological, grain, and stover yields, 1000 grain weight, plant height, and N uptake exhibiting 33.15%, 56.46%, 27.56%, 19.56%, 23.24%, and 78% increase over 150 kg N ha−۱, respectively. The sole use of gibberellic acid or NBPT with each level of N also improved the yield and yield components of maize compared to sole N application and control. Furthermore, application of 120 kg N ha−۱ along with NBPT and GA3 performed at par to 150 kg N ha−۱ + NBPT + GA3 but it was superior than sole applied 150 kg N ha−۱ for all the studied traits. These results imply that application of GA3 and/or NBPT can reduce dependence on urea and improve the yield and N uptake in maize by slowing urea hydrolysis in calcareous soils and shall be practiced.

Introduction

Maize (Zea mays L.) belongs to family Poaceae and is one of the most important cultivated crop in tropical and subtropical region of the world (Nabizadeh et al. 2012; Khan et al. 2014a, b). It is the 3rd largest grain crop in Pakistan following wheat and rice (Harris et al. 2007). Maize is an exhaustive crop needs an adequate amount of essential nutrients for its abundant production, in order to fulfill the demand of the rapid increasing population of the world. Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient, is a basic constituent of plant growth, and improves crop production and other nutrients uptake (Zaman et al. 2008a, b; Nasim et al. 2018). Nitrogen is a mobile nutrient, it moves and is lost easily from the soil (Junejo et al. 2011) and is usually deficient in calcarious soils (Adnan et al. 2018a; Snyder et al. 2007; Shah et al. 2012). Worldwide increase in crop yield is directly proportional to synthetic fertilizer application, though the higher N fertilizer has drastically declined nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) (Tilman et al. 2002; Liu et al. 2013; Erisman et al. 2007; Turan 2021a).