Maize (Zea mays) is a field crop that belongs to the grass family (Poaceae). It is an economically important plant for human nutrition and as animal feed. Zeolite is a group of minerals found in sedimentary rocks of volcanic origin. It is used in agriculture to increase crop yields and improve soil structure. In the 2023 growing season, a trial was carried out on maize in the laboratory field of the Biotechnical Faculty, in which we tested the effects of using of zeolite (0 t/ha, 5 t/ha and 10 t/ha) added before sowing the preceding main crop, which was winter wheat. For sowing, the hybrid was sown with 0% nitrogen dose - control, 100% nitrogen dose (full dose of added nitrogen, i.e. 181 kg of pure nitrogen per ha) and 70% nitrogen dose (70% of added nitrogen compared to the intended full dose and was 127 kg of pure nitrogen per ha). The hybrid P9610, FAO 350 (Pioneer, Corteva) was used for sowing. Zeolite only had an effect on certain parameters. It had an effect on seed yield, as the yield was 11% higher when using 10 t/ha of zeolite (8.2 t/ha) than when using 5 t/ha of zeolite (7.4 t/ha) and 3% higher (8 t/ha) than in the treatment where no zeolite was added to the soil. Zeolite has an influence on certain morphological characteristics of maize, such as: the weight of the whole cob, the length of the cob, the number of grains on the cob, the mass of the ear and grain mass of one cob, as this is where the best results were obtained, e.g. the treatment with 5 t/ha of zeolite gave the highest weight of maize cob (116 g) and the lowest weight in the treatment without zeolite (107 g). Mineral nitrogen had a positive effect on all measured variables. The maximum seed yield (10.4 t/ha) was obtained in the treatment where we applied the full dose of nitrogen, while it was only 3.1 t/ha in the control. In terms of plant height, the control achieved the lowest growth (201 cm) and was 28% shorter than the treatment with the full dose of nitrogen (279 cm).
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