Nano urea reduces chemical fertilizer footprints amidst enhancing productivity and quality of fodder maize

The experiment was carried out at Dryland Agricultural Research Station, Rangreth of SKUAST-K, Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) during the Kharif season of 2022 and 2023. The experiment comprised ten treatment combinations of nano-urea and conventional chemical fertilizers were applied in fodder specialty corn Shalimar fodder maize 1 (SFM-1) over two years and was conducted using Randomized Complete Block Design. The various parameters that were recorded during the study include plant height (cm), leaf stem ratio, green fodder yield (qha-1 ), dry fodder yield (qha-1 ), crude protein content (%) and dry matter content (%). The relative economics of the experiment was also evaluated during the study. The results of the experiment revealed that plant height and leaf stem ratio was recorded higher than the treatment of the recommended dose of fertilizers RDF (N:P:K@120:60:40kg/ha), however this treatment was comparable with 75 % recommended dose of N+Nano@2mL/litre of water, 75 % recommended dose of N+Nano@4mL/litre of water and 75 % recommended dose of N+Nano@6mL/litre of water treatments during both the years of study. The maximum yields of dry, green fodder, crude protein content and green fodder content were also obtained higher by applying the recommended nitrogen dose (RDF) and this was comparable to applying 75 % of the recommended nitrogen dose with nano-urea spray at concentrations of 2 mL L-1 , 4 mL L-1 and 6 mL L-1 of water, as well as applying 50 % of the recommended nitrogen dose with nano-urea spray at 6 mL L-1 of water for green fodder yield. In the second year, the highest green fodder yield and dry fodder yield were observed with the application of RDF, which was at par with the application of 75 % of the RDF with nano-urea for both green and dry fodder yield. These findings suggest that of 25 % of the recommended nitrogen dose could be saved by using two sprays of nano-urea at concentrations of 2 mL L-1 , 4 mL L-1 , or 6 mL L-1 during the first year of experimentation. The results also show that soil application of 25 % - 50 % of chemical nitrogen fertilizer can be skipped thus reducing the negative impacts of chemical fertilizers on the soil environment.