Abstract
Plant spacing determines to a greater extent crop performance in terms of growth and yield. The production of crop with organic fertilizer also plays a vital role in organic agriculture. Field studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of spacing and poultry manure on the growth, yield and quality of onion. Three spacing regimes were carried out consisting of (15cm x 15 cm , 20 cm x 20 cm and 25 cm x 25 cm) and four levels of poultry manure at ( 0, 5, 10 and 15 t /ha ). The effects of spacing and poultry manure were evaluated for 2 years based on plant growth, yield, nutrient concentration, uptake and proximate composition of onion plant. Leaf thickness, bulb and shoot fresh weights were significantly increased by the wider spacing of 20 cm x 20 cm and 25 cm x 25 cm, compared with the narrower spacing of 15cm x 15 cm in both seasons. However, highest total dry yield (1.82 and 1.58) t /ha, shoot yield (2.31 and 1.32) t /ha and total fresh yield (13.69 and 12.55) t/ha were obtained with the spacing of 20cm x 20 cm in both years. Similarly, application of poultry manure increased leaf thickness, bulb and shoot fresh weights and yields compared with the control. Generally, using 10 t/ha poultry manure has a superior effect on proximate composition and most of growth parameters and yield components achieved the highest nutrient concentrations and uptake on most of the macro and micronutrients in leaves and bulbs as compared with the control in both years.
Highlights
Worldwide, onion (Allium cepa L.) is a vegetable crop of commercial importance and has been the most used flavouring vegetable for centuries
The shoot fresh weight per plant increased with increase in spacing with the highest shoot fresh weight produced at 25 cm × 25 cm spacing in both years
The application of poultry manure increased crop growth rate and leaf thickness up to 10 t/ha and a further increase in application rate did not result in a significant increase in these parameters
Summary
Onion (Allium cepa L.) is a vegetable crop of commercial importance and has been the most used flavouring vegetable for centuries. Plant spacing and manure application are important agronomic factors which can cause substantial increase or decrease in yield of most crops appropriate plant spacing is vital for the interception of enough sunlight necessary for optimum photosynthesis (Aliyu et al, 2008). Pandey et al (1996) observed the highest plant height in narrow spacing in tomato hybrids, while wider spacing had the highest number of primary branches per plant. They attributed the higher plant height recorded in narrow spacing to greater competition for space and light and thereby forcing the plants to grow taller. The problem of affordability and procurement of chemical fertilizers by resource-poor farmers make the use of poultry manures a viable alternative (Chen and Hammond, 1988)
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