The document outlines the agenda for the 13th Asian Maize Conference held in Ludhiana, Punjab, India from 8-10 October 2018. It discusses maize production trends globally and in key countries like China, USA, and Brazil. It also summarizes maize production in Nepal, highlighting challenges like low productivity. The author presents results from an experiment comparing Nutrient Expert recommendations to farmer practices, finding a significant yield increase using the former approach. The conclusion is that Nutrient Expert can help address efficient nutrient management and increase yields and profits for farmers.

1. 13th Asian Maize Conference 2018
8-10 October, 2018
Ludhiana, Punjab, India
W
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2. Introduction
Objectives
Experimental Methodology
Results and Discussion
Conclusion of experiment
Innovative Steps
My initiations
Acknowledgements
PRESENTATION OUTLINE

3. INTRODUCTION
 Maize is the third most important cereal crop in the
world , after rice and wheat (Abdullahi et al., 2016).
 Among other cereals, maize has the highest genetic
yield potential and therefore, it is known as “queen of
cereals".
 It is dynamic crop as it is worldwide effectively used as
food, feed, nutrition and environment security.

4. CORN: THE DYNAMIC CROP
Food & Nutrition
• Maize (Staple food)
• Corn flour
• Corn starch
• Livestock feed
• Maize stover
Industry and
cosmetics
• Paper products
• Export to other countries
• Medicines
• Insecticides
• Fertilizers
• Foam products
• Industrial Raw materials
Environment
security
• Biodegradable
plastics
• Biofuels

5. SCENARIO OF MAIZE PRODUCTION IN
THE WORLD
Brazil
(64.1 million
mt)
China (231.6
million mt)
USA (384
million mt)
World (1.06
billion mt)
(Source: FAOSTAT, 2018)

6. MAIZE: IN NEPAL
 It is cultivated in 891,583 hectares of land with production and
productivity of 2,231,517 tons and 2.5 t ha-1, respectively (MoAD, 2017).
 It is the major food crop in the hills of Nepal (Upadhyay et al., 2009), and
accounts about 71% of maize production of the country (MoAD, 2017).
 The share of cereal crops to AGDP is about 49%, and maize alone
contributes about 7% to AGDP (MoAD, 2015).
 The per capita maize consumption in Nepal was 98 g/person/day (Ranum
et al., 2014).
Source: (khanal et al ., 2017).

7. CHALLENGES OF MAIZE PRODUCTION IN
NEPAL
 The productivity of maize in farm level is almost stagnant around 2-2.5 t ha-1 in
last decade (MoAD, 2017).
 The productivity of maize in farm level is low (2.5 t ha-1 ) as compared to
attainable yield (5.7 t ha-1) in Nepal (MoAD, 2017; KC et al., 2015).
 Indiscriminate use of fertilizer by farmer and lack of site specific nutrient
management (SSNM) is always the primary concern for low maize productivity
in Nepal.
 The current fertilizer recommendation by Government of Nepal provides the
regional based fertilizer recommendation which address the average fertility
status of the soil of very region.
 It doesn't address the soil of farmers' field as it varies greatly among fields,
seasons and years.
Source: (khanal et al., 2017).

8. FEMINIZATION TREND OF AGRICULTURE

9. DEMAND VERSUS SUPPLY
Everyday Nepal requires more than 5000 ton of maze for chicken feed .
The production ratio is not increasing as demand since 2010.
COMPITITION FOR FOOD FEED AND NUTRITION IS CHALLENGING US…
HOW CAN WE ADDRESS IT…?

10. WHY SSNM AND NUTRIENT EXPERT® (NE) ?
 Site specific nutrient management (SSNM) is a plant based approach for
supplying crops with nutrients in right amount and time.
 Based on SSNM principles, a dynamic nutrient management tool, Nutrient
Expert® (NE), was developed that can generate farm-specific fertilizer
recommendation for maize (Majumdar et al., 2014).
 The NE is an easy-to-use, simple computer based tool that can rapidly
provide nutrient recommendations for nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium for above crops for individual farmer's field in presence or
absence of soil testing results (Pampolino et al., 2012).
Source: (khanal et al ., 2017).

11. Broad objective:
 To enhance the economic status of farmer by
increasing the productivity of maize.
Specific objectives:
 To assess the growth and yield of maize using
Nutrient Expert®-Maize.
 To assess the yield and profitability of maize in
farmers' field using Nutrient Expert®- Maize in
Jhapa district.

12. Figure . Map of experimental sites(Dhukurpaniand Gauradaha,Jhapa)
EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY
 Research location: Dhukurpani and
Gauradaha, Jhapa, Nepal
 Research design: Single factorial
RCBD
 Replications: 20 (1 farmer= 1
replication)
 Treatments: 2 (NE= Nutrient expert
recommendation,
FFP= Farmer’s
Fertilizer Practice)
 Individual plot size: 100 m2
 Net plot size: 10 m2
 Variety: Pioneer3785 (hybrid variety)
 Study period: November 2016 to
May 2016

13. OBSERVATION TAKEN
Yield attributing characters
• plant number per m2
• cob number per m2
• cob length
• kernel row per cob
• kernel number per row
• Test weight
Grain Yield
Stover Yield
Cost of cultivation
Gross return
Statistical Analysis
• Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for all recorded parameters were done using MSTATC,
computer based program at 5% significance level, as suggested by Gomez and
Gomez (1984).

14. RESULTS
AND
DISCUSSION

15. Treatment
GrainYield
(t ha-1)
Stover Yield
(t ha-1)
Biological Yield
(t ha-1)
Grain: stover
ratio
Harvest
index(%)
NE 9.22 12.70 21.92 0.74 42.13
FFP 4.94 8.62 13.55 0.58 36.55
SEm(±) 0.14 0.24 0.28 0.02 0.60
LSD (0.05) 0.413 0.699 0.827 0.0522 1.771
P-value <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
CV (%) 8.8 9.9 7.0 12.0 6.8
Grand Mean 7.08 10.66 17.74 0.658 39.34
Table 2. Grain yield, stover yield, biological yield, grain: stover ratio and harvest index of maize as affected by nutrient
managementpracticesat DhukurpaniandGauradaha, Jhapa,Nepal,2015/16

16. Nutrient Management Practices
Nutrient Expert Farmer's Fertilizer Practice
Grainyield(tha-1)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Nutrient Management Practices
Nutrient Expert Farmer's Fertilizer Practice
Stoveryield(tha-1)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Figure. Comparisonof grainyieldof maizein two
nutrientmanagementpractices
Error Bars= ± SEM
Error Bars= ± SEM
Figure. Comparisonof stoveryieldof maizein two
nutrientmanagementpractices

17. Treatment Avg.Plant
no. m-2
Avg.Cobno.
m-2
Avg.Kernel
rowcob-1
Avg.Kernels
no. row-1
Avg.Kernels
no. cob-1
TestWeight
(g)
Avg.Cob
length (cm)
NE 7.6 8.2 14.2 42.4 589.9 361.4 18.1
FFP 5.5 5.8 13.4 38.6 502.4 310.4 17.3
SEm(±) 0.15 0.15 0.13 0.54 10.58 4.15 0.71
LSD (0.05) 0.431 0.446 0.378 1.601 31.310 12.270 ns
P-value <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 0.433
CV (%) 10 9.6 4.1 6 8.7 5.5 18
GrandMean 6.51 7.01 13.82 40.47 546.1 335.9 17.67
Table 3. Yield attributes of maize as affected by nutrient management practices at Dhukurpani and Gauradaha,
Jhapa, Nepal, 2015/16

18. Nutrient Management Practices
Nutrient Expert Farmer's Fertilizer Practice
Averagekernelrowscob-1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Nutrient Management Practices
Nutrient Expert Farmer's Fertilizer Practice
Averageno.ofkernelsrow-1
0
10
20
30
40
50
Error Bars= ± SEM
Error Bars= ± SEM
Figure. Comparison of average kernel rows per cob
of maize in two nutrient management
practices
Figure. Comparison of average kernel number per row
of maize in two nutrient management
practices

19. Treatment
Costof cultivation(NRs.
ha-1)
Grossreturn(NRs.
ha-1)
Netreturn
(NRs.ha-1)
B:Cratio
NE 95079 224049 128970 2.36
FFP 75470 131264 55793 1.74
SEm(±) 2502.40 2731.90 0.03
LSD(0.05) 7406.90 8086.50 0.085
P-value <.001 <.001 <.001
CV (%) 6.3 13.2 6.2
GrandMean 85275 177656 92382 2.05
Table 4. Cost of cultivation (NRs. ha-1), gross return (NRs. ha-1), net return (NRs. ha-1) and B:C ratio of maize as affected by
nutrient management practices at Dhukurpani and Gauradaha,Jhapa,Nepal, 2015/16
Source: (khanal et al ., 2017).

20. Nutrient Management Practices
Nutrient Expert Farmer's Fertilizer Practice
Grossreturns(NRs.'000ha-1)
0
50
100
150
200
250
Nutrient Management Practices
Nutrient Expert Farmer's Fertilizer Practice
Netreturn(NRs.'000ha-1)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Error Bars= ± SEM Error Bars= ± SEM
Figure. Comparison of gross return of maize in two
nutrientmanagementpractices
Figure. Comparison of net return of maize in two
nutrientmanagementpractices
Source: (khanal et al ., 2017).

21. Nutrient Management Practices
Nutrient Expert Farmer's Fertilizer Practice
B:Cratio
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Error Bars= ± SEM
Figure. Comparisonof B:C of maizein twonutrientmanagementpractices
Source: (khanal et al ., 2017).

22. CONCLUSION OF EXPERIMENT
 Thus, NE based practice can be adopted for obtaining higher productivity
and profitability in eastern terai region and similar agro-climatic condition
of Nepal.
 Through the adoption of Nutrient Expert®, we were able to address the
efficient management of nutrients.
 This was reflected in the production level, where the Nutrient Expert®
based practices produced significantly higher grain yield (9.22 t ha-1), which
was 86.6 percent higher than Farmer's Fertilizer Practices (4.94 t ha-1).
 The stover yield of Nutrient Expert® based practices was also higher than
Farmer's Fertilizer Practices, suggesting us the higher returns to the farmers
through this practice.
Source: (Khanal et al ., 2017).

23. INNOVATIVE STEP : INNITIATION &
INTERACTION FROM LOCAL LEVEL
Fertilizer
application and
dissemination
of technical
knowledge to
local farmers
periodic
interaction and
collaboration
with local
organizations
Seminar and
interactive
program on
maize
cultivation
Problem
identification in
local level

24. PUBLICATIONS
Publications
Gurung, B., Dhakal,B., Khanal, S., and Adhikari, B. (2018). Performance of different
drought tolerant rice genotypes under lowland rainfed condition in Western Hills
of Nepal. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 7
(6). Available on
https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v7i6/ART20182671.pdf
Gautam,S., Mahat, M., Khanal, S., and Manandhar, H. (2018). Effects of Chemical,
Biological and Botanical for the Management of Alternaria Leaf Spot Disease of
Radish for Healthy Seed Production:3 (3); Available on:
http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/3.3.15

25. PUBLICATIONS
Khanal, S., Dhakal, B., Bhusal, K. Bhusal (2017). Assessment of yield attributing
characters of hybrid maize using Nutrient Expert® Maize Model in Eastern Terai of
Nepal. International Journal of Environment Agriculture and Biotechnology (ISSN:
2456-1878), 2 (5): 2706-2709. Available online on:
http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.54
Bhusal, K., Neupane, S., Khanal, S., and Dhungana, S. (2017). Assessement of the level of
the appropriate technology adoption and its implication on maize production in
chitwan. International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research ISSN: 2455-
6939; 3(5). Avaialble on: http://ijaer.in/uploads/ijaer_03__275.pdf
Dhakal, B., Khanal, S., and Amgain, L. B. (2017). Productivity and profitability assessment
of drought tolerant rice cultivars under different crop management practices in Central
Terai of Nepal. International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology, 2
(5), 2727-2731. Available on http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.58

26. PUBLICATIONS
Dhakal, B., Khanal, S., and Amgain, L. B. (2017). Assessment of yield and yield
attributing characters of drought tolerant rice cultivars under different crop
management practices in central terai of Nepal, International Journal of Science
and Research, 6 (10); 1646-1649. Available on:
https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v6i10/ART20177478.pdf
Dhakal, B., Khanal, S., and Amgain , L.B. (2017). Productivity Assessment of drought
tolerant rice cultivars under different crop management practices in central terai
of Nepal. International Journal of Environmental & Agriculture Research;
3(10):20-25. Available online: http://ijoear.com/Paper-October-2017/IJOEAR-
OCT-2017-13.pdf

27. EMPOWERING WOMEN & YOUTHS
A Happy
farmer :
Source for
my
inspiration

29. INITIATION TO EMPOWER:WOMEN,YOUTH
AND RURAL PEOPLE IN MAIZE PRODUCTION
Founder member at Youth for
Agriculture
Development (YAD)
Vice-president
at Karnali
Development
Foundation
FOUNDER
president at Non-
profit
organizations
RESEARCH
COORDINATOR
AND TRAINER TO
WOMEN FARMERS
IN HILLY AREAS OF
NEPAL
PRINCIPAL
RESEARCHER IN
MAIZE AT
EASTERN TERAI
NEPAL

30. Economic and technical challenge
AT LAST…..
But I never
quit …..
My pace
never
take
rest…..

31. MAIZE: VERSATILE CROP FOR
ZERO HUNGERSource:
Sujit
Maher

32. STILL MANY MORE TO DO…….

33. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 Tribhuvan University
 IAAS, Lamjung Campus
 My advisory committee
 FORWARD Nepal
 Organizing committee of this conference
 Himal United Society
 Karnali Development Foundation
 My Family

34. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
ANY QUERIES……???