Direct and Residual Effects of Different Poultry Compost and NPK Fertilizer Applications on Drought-Tolerant Maize Production

O M O M Otitoju,A A Olowoake,Moses B Adewole,A O A O Ilesanmi

doi:10.5539/jsd.v9n4p61

O M O M Otitoju, A A Olowoake + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5539/jsd.v9n4p61

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Journal: Journal of Sustainable Development	Publication Date: Jul 30, 2016
Citations: 8	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Kwara State University

Abstract

This study investigated the direct and residual effects of different poultry compost and NPK fertilizer applications on the growth components of drought-tolerant maize (Zea mays L.) in a derived savanna agroecology of southwestern Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with six treatments, each replicated thrice. The treatments which were applied at planting, consisted of 100% cockerel manure (CM), 100% broiler manure (BM), 100% layers manure (LM), 33.3% cockerel manure + 33.3% Broiler manure + 33.3% Layers manure (CBLM) at 4.50 kg plot-1,inorganic NPK 20-20-10 fertilizer at 0.30 kg plot-1 and zero manure application as control (CT). The apparent efficiency of N recovery (AENR), N and P ear-leaf (NPEL) contents of maize with poultry manures were higher when compared to inorganic NPK fertilizer applications. The highest mean grain yield 1.30 t ha-1 of maize was obtained with BM treatment that had the highest AENR and NPEL values. This however, was not significantly (p &gt; 0.05) different from the mean grain yield obtained with other treatments during the dry season. Comparable but higher mean grain yield, but also not significantly (p &gt; 0.05) different were obtained during the wet season in all the treatments.

Highlights

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an annual cereal crop commonly cultivated in most parts of Nigeria
This study investigated the direct and residual effects of different poultry compost and NPK fertilizer applications on the growth components of drought-tolerant maize (Zea mays L.) in a derived savanna agroecology of southwestern Nigeria
The treatments which were applied at planting, consisted of 100% cockerel manure (CM), 100% broiler manure (BM), 100% layers manure (LM), 33.3% cockerel manure + 33.3% Broiler manure + 33.3% Layers manure (CBLM) at 4.50 kg plot-1, inorganic NPK 20-20-10 fertilizer at 0.30 kg plot-1 and zero manure application as control (CT)

Summary

Introduction

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an annual cereal crop commonly cultivated in most parts of Nigeria. It is a major source of food and livelihood for millions of people in many countries of the world (Ogunsumi et al, 2005). Climate change is considered as posing the greatest challenge to agriculture and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. This is because the region is vulnerable to climatic change and its coping capacity is perceived to be very low (Li et al, 2009). The use of drought-tolerant maize cultivars with high yielding potential to cope with the present climate change scenarios (Schittenhelm and Schroetter, 2014) is important since access to drought-tolerant maize variety may be the only alternative mitigating option available to resource-poor African farmers (Tsai et al, 1984)

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