title: Yield and fruit quality of four sweet corn hybrids (Zea mays) under conventional and integrated fertilization with vermicompost.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vermicompost has been proposed as a valuable fertilizer for sustainable agriculture. The effects of vermicompost on yield and quality of sweet corn were evaluated in this study. In two field trials, sweet corn plants were grown under (i) a conventional fertilization regime with inorganic fertilizer, and integrated fertilization regimes in which 75% of the nutrients were supplied by the inorganic fertilizer and 25% of the nutrients were supplied by either (ii) rabbit manure, or (iii) vermicompost. All three types of fertilization regime were supplied at two doses. Two pairs of nearly isogenic sweet corn hybrids homozygous for sugary1 and shrunken2 mutants were included in the trials to explore fertilizer × genotype interactions. Growth, yield and ear quality of the plants were evaluated in relation to the three fertilization regimes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In general, the integrated regimes yielded the same productivity levels as the conventional treatment. Moreover, both vermicompost and manure produced significant increases in plant growth and marketable yield, and also affected the chemical composition and quality of the marketable ear. Nevertheless, most of the observed effects of the organic fertilizers were genotype-dependent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results confirm that the use of organic fertilizers such as vermicompost has a positive effect on crop yield and quality. Nevertheless, these effects were not general, indicating the complexity of the organic amendment-plant interactions and the importance of controlling genetic variation when studying the effects of vermicompost on plant growth.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Universidad de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, Vigo E-36310, Spain. clazcano@cetmar.org
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lazcano
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Revilla
authors.forename: Rosa Ana
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Malvar
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Domínguez
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D018533:Biomass; D005308:Fertilizers; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development*; D005838:Genotype; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D008372:Manure; D009154:Mutation; D009835:Oligochaeta; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011817:Rabbits; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry; D012987:Soil; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D008372:Manure; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012987:Soil