PERFORMANCE OF JUTE MALLOW AS INFLUENCED BY ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZA FUNGI (Glomus deserticola) AND BONE CHAR ON AN ALFISOL OF SUDAN SAVANNAH AGROECOLOGY, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated phosphorous release from bone char and the response of jute mallow to the combined application of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) and bone char as well. An Alfisol from the Sudan Savannah agro-ecology of Northern Nigeria was used for this study. The soil was sterilized and subjected to routine analysis. Fresh cow bones were collected from the abattoir of Dutse and pyrolysed at a temperature of 400oC. The bone char was inoculated and incubated with AMF (Glomus deserticola) to determine its effect on release of available P from the bonechar. The experiment adopted a completely randomized design and consisted of six treatment combinations (three rates of bone char: 10, 20 and 30 g; two levels of AMF: inoculated and uninoculated) replicated three times. Incubation studies revealed that Available Phosphorous (AP) obtained from bone char was enhanced under the influence of AMF with 364.60 mg kg-1 obtained from 30 g/pot bone char AMF combination. Agronomic parameters involving height, number of leaves and dry matter yield were recorded at 3, 6 and 9 weeks after planting. Sole bone char application at 10 g/pot recorded higher plant heights and number of leaves. Plants under sole bone char applications performed better than those with combined AMF inoculations and bone char. Dry matter yield obtained were poor and were not consistent with the treatment rates. Bone char proved to be a potential viable source of plant available phosphorous. There was a proportional and significant (p<0.05) increase in quantity of AP under the influence of AMF with increase in rates of bone char.