Appropriate application of manure in corn cultivation can increase corn production up to 12-13 tons/ha. Fermented manure should be applied at a dose of 450-500 grams/plant or 2.3-2.5 tons/ha. The manure should be applied every month until harvest time, starting with the initial application at the time of seed planting.
Manure is important because it helps to provide soil nutrients and improve soil structure. Manure improves soil structure, making it more fertile, loose, and easier to cultivate. This function cannot be replaced by inorganic fertilizers.
The study found that plants treated with manure had better vegetative growth, including plant height. This is because manure contains not only limited macro-nutrients but also micro-nutrients that improve the physical and biological properties of the soil and promote plant growth.
Research conducted by Mokh. Bay’ul Maryo Khan and colleagues from the Agrotechnology Study Program, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Merdeka Pasuruan, and published in the Agroscript Journal Vol 3 No 2 (2021) demonstrated that the application of cow manure had a significant impact on plant growth and yield parameters in sweet corn cultivation.
Specifically, the application of 25 tons/hectare of cow manure resulted in a plant dry weight of 10.20 grams, representing a 67% increase compared to the control group without cow manure.
Corn production increased by 49% when applying 15 and 25 tons/hectare of cow manure, resulting in yields of 11.47 and 17.09 tons/hectare, respectively.
