STANDARDIZATION OF COMPOST TEA FORMULATION PROTOCOL AND ITS EFFICACY STUDY ON SWEET CORN (ZEA MAYS VAR. RUGOSA)

Objectives: The present study was conducted with the objective of standardizing the protocol for the development of indigenous compost tea from compost and testing its efficacy in improving sweet corn (Zea mays var. Rugosa) yield. Methods: Intensive laboratory scale studies were conducted to provide the end-users with simple and easy to practice protocol for preparation, storage and field application of compost tea. Compost tea was brewed using different compost to water ratios of 1: 5, 1:10, 1:15 and 1:20, brewing periods of 1, 3, 5 and 7 days, and storage temperatures of 20, 30 and 40°C. Results: It was found that compost tea brewed over a period of 5 days using compost and water in 1:5 ratio had highest nutritive value. Nitrogen content of compost tea tended to decline immediately after its production and at storage temperatures above 30°C. Findings from field experiments conducted depicted a positive effect of compost tea application on yield enhancement and disease suppression in sweet corn. As regards the yield per plot and per hectare, it was found that plants with the highest level of dilution garnered the heaviest yield and moved downwards in descending orders with the control plants with the lightest yield. In the pest and disease occurrence, dilutions of compost tea of varying levels could be an effective pesticides considering that all plants grow vigorously from its emergence until harvesting as no disease was noticed and few cutworms were only observed during the plants early vegetative growth but disappeared after several applications of compost tea. Conclusion: The study provided data-based evidence that the use of indigenously developed compost tea would be economical for sweet corn growers and this study will serve as baseline for further research in the field of compost tea development.