Organic soil amendments derived from municipal solid waste (MSW) have the potential to improve the health and productivity of soil. To study solid waste dump site and its use, a two-year field experiment was conducted by preparing two types of compost, i.e. fresh (D₁: derived from the mining of the freshly dumped MSW) and old composts (D₂: obtained from the mining of an old landfill site). The prepared composts were applied to spring maize (Zea mays L.) at the rate of 06, 12, 18 and 24 t/ha^-1. It was recorded that MSWC at the rate of 24 t ha^-1 increased the leaf area, number of leaves per plant, plant height, cobs per plant, cob yield, 1000 grain weight, grain yield, and biological yield by 27.62, 7.33, 13.15, 33.84, 0.257, 17.38, 12.43, 32.23, and 28.85%, respectively, relative to the control. The number of leaves per plant, plant height, number of cobs per plant, 1000 grain weight, grain yield and biological yield were increased by 3.50, 1.78, 4.81, 0.82, 4.02, and 3.69%, respectively, during the 2^nd year of experiment as compared to the 1^st year. The effect of compost types as a factor showed that plant height, cob yield, 1000 grain weight, grain yield, and biological yield were enhanced by 1.61, 2.74, 1.10, 5.48, and 1.81% with the fresh compost as compared to the old. It can be concluded that compost derived from different municipal solid waste landfill sites positively influenced the growth of the maize crop and soil condition. Moreover, the compost application at the rate of 24 t ha^-1 reduced the use of commercial fertilizer without affecting the grain yield.

Keywords: Landfill mining, Zea mays L., Crop yield, Compost, Municipal solid waste.