Effect of Treated Sewage Water and Organic Manure Application on Soil Fertility, Nutrient Composition, Quality and Yield of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Now-a-days, water resources are steadily declining due to over-exploitation of ground water. In most Indian cities, a sewage system is used, which includes an underground pipe system that collects wastewater from home and transport it to treatment plant. A field experiment was conducted during 2020 on maize crop. Treatments consisted of 2 maize single cross hybrids (HQPM-5 and HQPM-1); two sources of irrigation (canal water and treated sewage water) and four levels of organics (No manure or fertilizer, 100% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) though FYM, 100% RDN through vermicompost and 50% of RDN through FYM and 50% of RDN through vermicompost). Use of the treated sewage water resulted in improvement of yield and yield attributes, nutrient content and quality of maize and improved soil NPK status as compared to canal water. Among the two hybrids, HQPM-1 was observed superior based on yield and yield parameters. Application of 100% RDN by vermicompost increased the maize yield significantly over the other sources, while remaining statistically at par with 50-50% both.