Citation: Azawei Alamene and JohnnyBrown Alapuba Nancy (2022) Evaluation on the Effect of Cost Effective Cow Dung (in Bio-Fertlizers Form) on the Growth and Yield of Maize (Zea Mays) Production in the Niger Delta Area (Bayelsa State) of Nigeria, European Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Research, Vol.10, No.1, pp. 1-24
Evaluation on the effect of cost effective cow dung in bio-fertilizer form on growth and yield of Maize (Zea mays) production in the Niger Delta Area, was conducted, in 2017 cropping season of Bayelsa State, at the Niger Delta University Teaching and Research Farm, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, located within latitude 50N and longitude 6.050E of the equator. Treatments adopted for the experiment was cow dung in bio-fertilizer form, which was applied with different rates 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 t/ha, and replicated 5 times, experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The least significant difference (LSD) was used to compare the means at 5% level of significance. Parameters assessed were growth and yield components of maize which included plant height, leaf area, cob length and girth, average number of kernels per cob, weight of 1000 kernels and yield in t/ha. Parameters, generally, increased significantly with an increase in the rate of application of cow dung on the experimental plots. The result obtained from the yield (t/ha) showed that, there was no significant differences between the application rates of 20, 15, 10 and 5 t/ha of cow dung, whereas only at 20 t/ha differed significantly when compared to the untreated (Control), but 20t/ha, had more yield than the rest rates of application. However, twenty (20 t/ha) application rate of cow dung bio-fertilizer produced the highest yield with a mean value of 6.45 t/ha when compared to the control (0 t/ha) which had the least mean yield value of 4.05 t/ha. Furthermore, the control had the lowest mean values in all the growth and yield parameters tested throughout the period of assessment, whereas application rate of 20t/ha produced the highest mean values and differed significantly from the rest application rates of cow dung in all of the growth parameters of maize of production. Therefore, 20t/ha of cow dung was recommended for small scale farmers in the study area and other parts of the Bayelsa State and the Global World which had similar soil characteristics and environmental conditions, that are found in the arable area of land for maize production. In fact, this research work has created positive awareness to the people of Niger Delta Area on the danger of inorganic fertilizer application in our soils, because they are hazardous to the ecosystem that affected the biodiversity of some beneficiary soil microbes, because the type of maize farmers in the area which had little or no adequate knowledge on the negative chemical residual impact of inorganic fertilizer, to our crops and the soil microbes, which affected the biodiversity of some beneficiary soil microbes, hence the evaluation on this research project work to create the awareness on the importance of cow dung bio-fertilizer that are readily available in our environment at the Niger Delta Area of Nigeria.
Keywords: Cow dung. Bio-fertilizers, Niger-Delta, Parameters, growth and yield components, leaf area
