Abstract
Because water hyacinth-based compost contains substantial amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) its application can boost crop production. We evaluated the agronomic performance of water hyacinth - based composts using field experiments and five treatments which were; water hyacinth compost made using cattle manure (WH+CM), poultry manure (WH+PM), molasses (WH+MO), water hyacinth alone (WH alone) and the control. The composts were applied at two rates of 3 and 6 t ha-1 using maize (LONGE 4) as a test crop. Grain yields of 6.8 t ha-1 harvested in WH+CM applied at 6 t ha-1 and 6.5 t ha-1 harvested in WH+PM applied at 3 t ha-1 were statistically similar, and were the highest in the experiment. The highest harvest index and agronomic nitrogen efficiency were obtained at 3 t ha-1 from WH+PM (4.57) and WH+MO (42.6 kg kg-1) respectively. Compost formulation WH+PM applied at 3 t ha-1 was the most effective as measured in terms of grain yield and is recommended for application by farmers for good yields of maize crop. Key words: Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, water hyacinth-based composts, effective application rate, maize grain yield.  
Highlights
Crop production in sub-Saharan Africa is greatly hindered by low soil fertility (Tully et al, 2015)
We evaluated the agronomic performance of water hyacinth - based composts using field experiments and five treatments which were; water hyacinth compost made using cattle manure (WH+CM), poultry manure (WH+PM), molasses (WH+MO), water hyacinth alone (WH alone) and the control
The experiment had four treatments: (i) Water hyacinth co - composted with cattle manure (WH+CM), (ii) Water hyacinth co - composted with poultry manure (WH+PM), (iii) Water hyacinth composted with molasses (WH+MO) and (iv) the control where the water hyacinth was composted alone (WH alone)
Summary
Crop production in sub-Saharan Africa is greatly hindered by low soil fertility (Tully et al, 2015). A study by Nkonya et al (2008) revealed that nutrient levels for most soils in Uganda are below the critical levels for most crops grown in the country. Most soils in Central Uganda are Ferralsols that are highly weathered and leached, with.
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