Acid Soil Management in Jhum Fields of Maize under Zunheboto District of Nagaland

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop in the world due to its adaptability towards varied agro-climatic conditions. It is considered the Queen of the cereals. It ranks third among the cereals next to wheat and rice. The leading producer of maize is USA with 10.34 t ha -1 followed by Argentina (5.61 t ha-1) and China (5.35 t ha-1). It is the third most important cereal next to rice and wheat contributing about 10% of the total food grain production. Maize is the second most important crop next to rice in the Northeast region of India grown under rainfed upland soils. It is used for direct consumption as well as feeds to the farm animals. The area under maize in Zunheboto district of Nagaland is 10,100 hectare, however its productivity is only about 1.98 Mt ha-1 and hence its production needs to be improved. The soils are acidic in this region and often needs to be reclaimed to increase the productivity of the maize. A field level demonstrations on acid soil management using lime was conducted based on the soil type and pH in upland jhum fields of Aotsakili and Sumi Settsu villages under Zunheboto district of Nagaland covering 2 hectares. It was observed that with the application of lime, the average mean of pH was increased from 6.2 to 6.4 and the mean yield of maize was 2300 kg ha-1 over control (1600 kg ha-1) with B:C ratio of 2.6 over farmers practice 2.2. This technology was found to be beneficial and suitable for neutralizing soil acidity for crop production.