RESPONSE OF MAIZE (Zea Mays L.) GRAIN YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS TO INTEGRATED FERTILIZATION WITH GREEN MANURE AND NITROGEN

Green manures are an alternative to improve nitrogen availability for plant nutrition in a global context of declining soil fertility. To investigate the effects of green manure and nitrogen fertiliser on maize yield under the Braila Agricultural Development Research Station conditions, a bifactorial experiment with four replications was conducted for two years. The main factor was the use of green manures at four levels (control - without green mulch crop; winter pea (Pisum sativum L. var. arvense.); white mustard (Sinapis alba L); winter rye (Secale cereale L.), while the subfactor was the application of N fertilizer at four levels (0, 60, 90 and 120 kg/ha of N active substance). Green manure application significantly influenced corn yield, with increases of 19.4% for winter pea, 16.9% for white mustard, and 9.8% for rye. The same significant influence was found on plant height and yield components. The application of different levels of nitrogen also had a very significant influence on yield results and yield components.