EN

Abstract

Effect of poultry manure and organic fertilizer (NPK 20:10:10) on the growth and quality of cucumber fruits was studied at the experimental site of the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam campus. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four levels of treatments consisting of 4tha -1 poultry manure (PM), 900 kgha -1 NPK in a ratio of 20:10:10 (NPK), 2 tha -1 poultry manure + 450 kgha -1 NPK fertilizer (PM + NPK) and 0 tha -1 control (CO), where no treatment was applied. Data collected were tested using analysis of variance and significant differences among treatment means were separated using LSD at 0.05 probability level. The results obtained from the study indicated that the numbers of leaves of cucumber increased as weeks after planting (WAP) increased. The highest leaves numbers was observed in the plots treated by PM. The order of leaves increases from 2 to 6 weeks were PM > PM+NPK > NPK > CO. The length of fruits, number of fruits, the quality of marketable fruits and weight of fruits increased proportionately in PM treated plots and were significantly (P=0.05) different among the other treatments except for quality of marketable fruits. The highest value of 171.25cm (length of fruits), 10.75 (number of fruits) and 2.38kgha - 1 (weight of fruits) were obtained in PM treated plots. Based on the results obtained it is evident that poultry manure as organic manure and its mixture (PM + NPK) is a good source of soil amendment, since it influenced the growth and yield components of cucumber.