The effect of nitrogen fertilizer on hybrid maize yields under the shade of coconut trees

Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology of West Kalimantan, Jl. Budi Utomo No. 45 Pontianak 78241 West Kalimantan, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: sution@pertanian.go.id

Abstract

The need for maize in West Kalimantan is around 320,000 tonnes per year, most of which is still imported from outside the region. Cultivating the maize under the shade of coconut trees is an alternative to meet the needs of maize in West Kalimantan and hence improvement on the cultivation of maize under the shade of coconut trees should be taken seriously. This study aims to determine the effect of nitrogen (N) fertilizer on the growth and yield of hybrid maize under the shade of coconut trees. The research method used a factorial randomized block design consisting of 2 factors. The first factor is maize variety (Nasa 29, Bima 19, Bima 20, JH 21 and Pioneer 35) and the second factor is nitrogen fertilization (64 kg ha^-1, 86.5 kg ha^-1, 109 kg ha^-1, and 131.5 kg ha^-) of N, hence 20 treatment combinations are obtained and repeated 3 times. The results showed that the Nasa 29 variety with N fertilizer of 131.5 kg ha^-1 produced the highest maize grains yield of 4.8 t ha^-1. Therefore the using of Nasa 29 variety with the 131.5 kg ha^-1 of N fertilizer is recommended for intercropping system under the shade of coconut trees.