Abstract
The study was conducted in four districts of Gurage zone in Sothern Ethiopia to determine the N, P, K, organic carbon and nitrogen of cattle manure. Seventy two households, 36 from highland and 36 from midaltitude were randomly selected from a total of 360 sample households selected for the study. Around 88.05% of farmers in the study areas were keeping cattle for high demand of manure to fertilize enset fields and for milk production. There were no practices of using cattle dung as fuel or dung cake for sale. The sampled manure had nitrogen content of 2.68% and C/N ratio of 11:1 in highland and 2.24% with C/N ratio of 12:1 in mid-altitude. The organic matter obtained from manure in highland and midaltitude, respectively, were 51.89 and 44.82%. The gram of N, P, K, kg-1 DM of manure, respectively, were 26.8, 16.5 and 1.6 for highland and 22.4, 12.6 and1.2 for midaltitude. To realize production sustainability of enset system, cattle manure was found to be of paramount importance. Therefore, appropriate interventions in cattle production and forage development are the prime necessity to realize sustainability in enset production and households’ food security. Key words: Cattle manure, Gurage Zone NPK, organic carbon, organic matter.
Highlights
Cattle are an important component of most farming systems in Ethiopia and provide draught power, milk, meat, manure, hides and serve as a capital asset against risk (Ehui et al, 2002)
According to the responses of households (Table 1), the primary objective of rearing cattle by the households was necessity for high demand of manure to fertilize crop land of enset fields and milk production to supplement enset product which is low in protein
Around 88.05% of the livestock owners in these areas engaged in the production of cattle aiming majorly on production of milk to support enset based food to lead healthy life and manure to fertilize crop garden which is in agreement with the result of Beriso et al (2015) from Aleta Chukko district of Southern Ethiopia, who reported cattle keeping was important component of the mixed-farming system that cattle provide, milk and fertilizer
Summary
Cattle are an important component of most farming systems in Ethiopia and provide draught power, milk, meat, manure, hides and serve as a capital asset against risk (Ehui et al, 2002). Manure production is considered important by most crop/livestock and agropastoralist farmers, but as secondary rather than a primary purpose (Alemayehu, 2004; Mekonnen and Köhlin, 2008). Manure is a complex material that contains valuable nutrients and used as a fertilizer for centuries and contains several essential plant nutrients which contributes to increased crop yields when properly applied to soils. Dairy and other livestock producers can use manure as a valuable source of fertilizer nutrients for crops (Jodie et al, 1914). It is relatively resistant to drought, heavy rain, and seasonal flooding which ordinarily devastate other food crops, especially cereals (Brandt et al, 1997; Million et al, 2003; Tesfaye, 2005)
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