Evaluation of the Effect of Cow Dung and Poultry Dropping on Maize Kernel Yield (Published)
Organic agriculture is the application of organic fertilizers such as Poultry dropping and Cow dung in a nutrient deficient soil to increase and enhance vigorous growth of plant and crop yield, in which all input is based on natural sources of agriculture which has no negative effect on the performance of crops, improves the fertility in the soil and causes no harm to the environment. A comparative study on the “The evaluation of the Effect of Cow Dung and Poultry Dropping” on Maize (Zea mays) Kernel Yield was carried out at Niger Delta University Teaching and Research Farm, Amassoma, in 2013/2014 cropping season. The treatments consisting of 20t/ha of Poultry dropping, 20t/ha of Cow dung and No treatment in which each treatment was replicated four (4) times. The treatments were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Some baseline agronomic data were collected such as, Plant height, Leaf area, Number of nodes, First cob attachment, Weight of 1000 kernels of corn and as well as the physicochemical characterization of the soil. The result was subjected to analysis of variance and it shows that the treatment with 20t/ha of Poultry dropping had significant difference compare to Cow dung and that of the control. 1000 kernel weight of Maize with the highest mean value of 154.97g and 144.91g were obtained from the treatment applied with 20t/ha of poultry dropping and 20t/ha of cow dung respectively. The mean Corn kernel yield in ton per hectare had the highest mean value of 1.49 was obtained from the treatment with 20t/ha of poultry dropping followed by 20t/ha of cow dung while the least mean of corn kernel yield in t/ha was obtained from the treatment with no application of organic manure. Findings indicate that, the organic manures applied enhanced the growth and yield performances of the crop.
Keywords: Cow Dung, Fertilizer, Organic Manure, Yield, poultry dropping
Growth Response of Dennettia Tripetala (G. Baker) to different organic manure at the early stage (Published)
Early stage of plants is the major determinant of its growth and yield. This is directly linked to the nature of soil, nutrient availability and climatic conditions the plants were exposed to at its early stage. The experiment was conducted at the screen house of the Department of Forestry and Wildlife, Faculty of Agriculture, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State from February to August 2018. The study evaluated the growth response of Dennettia tripetala to different organic manure. Four treatments were used for the experiment and were replicated four times with four seedlings per replicate. The treatments were: T1 (Control; Top soil only), T2 (Mineralized cow dung), T3 (Mineralized pig dung) and T4 (Mineralized fish pond sediment). The experiment was laid in Completely Randomized Design. Parameters assessed includes: Seedling height (cm), Collar diameter (cm) and Number of leaves. Watering was done daily. Results showed that T4 had the best performance in seedling height, and number of leaves with a mean value of 8.966071cm and 3.01 respectively while T3 had the best performance in collar diameter with mean value of 0.226473cm. The least performance was recorded in T2 in number of leaves with mean value of 2.81 while T1 had the least performance in height with mean value of 8.366964cm. However, there were significant differences among the treatments at 5% level of probability in number of leaves and height and Duncan Multiple Range Test was used to separate significant means but collar diameter was not significant. Hence, Dennettia tripetala seedlings thrives excellently in fish pond sediments and should be adopted as the best media for the early establishment of the seedlings to increase its early growth and development.
Keywords: Early Growth, Organic Manure, dennettia tripetala, growth parameters., potting mixture, seedling
Impacts of Selected Seed Pretreatments on Emergence and Early Growth of Ceiba Pentandra (L.) Gaertn (Published)
The research work on seed pretreatment methods was carried-out to examine the effects on the emergence and early growth of Ceiba pentandra (Linn) Gaertn. The research was carried out at Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) nursery Jericho, Ibadan. Major pretreatments employed on the seeds of Ceiba pentandra were soaking in water at room temperature, soaking in water at boiling point, soaking in H2SO4, and soaking in organic manure (rabbit dung) with untreated seeds as control. Each of the treatments has three levels of administration except control with a single level. The research was laid in a completely randomized design with 20 seeds per treatment and each level of treatment was replicated five times. Growth parameters assessed were germination count, seedling height, seedling girth and number of leaves with germination percentage derived from germination count. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS package. From the table presentation of germination parameters and percentage derivative, Treatment 1 (soaking in water at room temperature for 12 hours) has the highest germination percentage of 100% followed by Treatment 7 (soaking in H2SO4 for 10 minutes) 70% and Treatment 13 (control) 70%. ANOVA stated that there was significant difference among the seedling height, seedling girth and number of leaves at 5% level of probability. In overall assessment, Treatment 10 (soaking in rabbit manure for 12h) has the highest mean value of height, 15.67 followed by Treatment 8 (Soaking in H2SO4 for 20 minute) with mean value of 15.45 In the area of number of leaves, Treatment 10 has the highest mean value of 18.67 followed by Treatment 2 with 18.02 while Treatment 7 (soaking in acid for 10 minutes) has the highest mean value of 2.77 in stem diameter followed by Treatment 10 with 2.68 mean value. It was concluded based on the result obtained from the research work that Treatment 10 (Soaking in Rabbit Manure for 12 hours) was highly and positively significant in treating seeds of C. pentandra majorly in the areas of seedling height and number of leaves that form the essential parameters of plant growth and development. It is therefore recommended that further research should be carried on other fresh organic manures with various plant species.
Keywords: Impact, Organic Manure, Pretreatment, kapok, room temperature