Abstract
The effect of selected agro-industrial biomass of woodash, spent grain, cocoa husk, rice bran and sawdust applied solely and supplemented with goat, pig and poultry manure to improve on the seed nitrogen, ash and crude protein quality of four crops of Amaranthus was investigated at Akure in the rainforest zone of Nigeria. The 22 treatments were applied at 6t/ha a.i with a reference treatment (400 kg/ha NPK 15-15-15) and a control treatment, replicated four times and arranged in a randomized complete design. The results showed that these biomasses increased the seed N, ash and crude protein of amanranthus significantly (P<0.05) compared to the control treatment. The supplement of woodash, rice bran, spent grain and sawdust with goat, pig and poultry manure increased consistently the seed N and crude protein when compared to their sole forms. The sole and supplemented agro-industrial biomass had higher values of amaranthus seed ash than NPK except that of seed N and crude protein. Cocoa husk treatment had the best value of seed N (3.41%) followed by woodash (3.17%), spent grain (1.54%), sawdust (1.05%) and rice bran (0.14%) respectively. Spent grain gave the highest value of amaranthus seed ash (10.44%) followed by woodash (10.04%), cocoa husk (6.44%), rice bran (5.93%) and sawdust (5.71%). Finally, the sole and supplemented forms of agro-industrial biomass are very fertilizer materials for enhancing seed N, ash and crude protein of amaranthus.
Highlights
Amaranthus (Amaranthus Viridis L) is a crop which had been domesticated by man for years and it is a leafy vegetable that belongs to the family Amaranthaceae
Wood ash and cocoa husk are relatively high in K, Ca, and Mg while the spent grain is high in available P, K and Mg
For the animal manures used for amending the agro-industrial biomass, poultry manure had the highest values of organic C, N, P, Ca, Fe and Mn compared with pig and goat manures
Summary
Amaranthus (Amaranthus Viridis L) is a crop which had been domesticated by man for years and it is a leafy vegetable that belongs to the family Amaranthaceae. Oyenuga (1968) reported that Amaranthus contained Vitamin A 120.00W, Iron 1.40 grammes, 1.90 grammes of protein and water 88.00ml which are usually deficient in the staple food. These are required for body growth, reproduction and maintenance of health, the demand for Amaranthus by consumers is increasing and they should be produced on sustainable basis to meet the dietary needs of the people. Despite the nutritional values of amaranthus, its optimum seed yields has not been attained This is because the crop is produced by the local farmers on intensive basis in small plots on long term basis and this has resulted into decline in its fertility but resource poor farmers can not afford the use of inorganic fertilizers to replenish the depleted soil nutrients because of scarcity and high cost
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