Sulphur nutrient deficiency amendment for maize production in Malawi

Nitrogen or Sulphur soil deficiencies in Malawi

Maize remains the most important staple food crop for Malawi. Sulphur research as a soil nutrient for maize production in Malawi was masked by the past use of sulphur containing fertilisers such as sulphate of ammonium and single super phosphate in crop production in the country. Sulphur is essential in plant protein synthesis because it is part of certain amino acids. It also helps form enzymes, vitamins and necessary in chlorophyll formation.

The objectives of the present study include:

to determine soil sulphur status in Lilongwe ADD and sulphur critical level for
to assess the performance of two sources of sulphur in maize production
to determine the optimum rate of sulphur application in maize production.

The authors' conclusions are that:

there is a strong indication that the current 4-8 kg S/ha recommendation is inadequate for optimum maize production
twenty kilograms of sulphur per hectare is the optimum rate of application
there is a need to increase the sulphur content in 23.21.0+4S to 23.21.0+10s
application of 200kg of the suggested fertilizer will supply 20kgS/ha.

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Sulphur nutrient deficiency amendment for maize production in Malawi