Poultry manure-urea fertilizer potentially influences nitrogen use efficiency, nutritional quality, and yield of baby corn ( Zea mays L. )

Baby corn (Zea mays L.) is an immature type of corn harvested when the silk length becomes 2-3 inches long and consumed as raw or cooked. However, in recent years the use of organo-mineral fertilizers (OMFs) has been increasing due to their ability to improve crop production and soil health. That's why a pot experiment was carried out to determine the effects of poultry manure-urea (PMU) on baby corn production, nutritional value, nitrogen (N) use efficiency, and soil health compared to commercial urea following a completely randomized design (CRD) with four replications. Here, 3 N-fertilizer sources, viz., urea, PMU-L (low N: 14 %), and PMU-H (High N: 24 %) were applied at 50, 75, and 100 % of the recommended dose of N. Application of PMU fertilizer significantly influenced plant height, yield, nutritional quality and N use efficiency of baby corn. Significantly greater leaf chlorophyll, cob, and fodder protein content were found in PMU-treated plants than in urea. The use of PMU increased cob and fodder production by approximately 11 and 13 %, respectively compared to urea. About 25 % higher N uptake, leading to a 28 % greater N use efficiency by baby corn was found in PMUtreated plants than in urea-treated ones. Besides that, the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) was slightly increased due to the application of PMU. Results showed that Pb, Cd, and Cr concentrations in PMU treated plants were below the WHO permissible limit.