The study aims to evaluate the effect of goat manure application on the growth performance of cactus. The research was conducted at Bunda Campus of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malawi. The plots were prepared in February 2018, applying four measures of goat manure: T1, which was a control had 0 ton / ha of application; T2, with 10 ton / ha; T3, with 20 ton / ha; and T4, with 30 ton / ha. The data collected at 1, 2 and 3 months included the number of buds per treatment, number of racquets per plant, number of primary racquets per plant, height measurement and diameter which were used to evaluate the number of buds per treatment and to verify the performance of plant growth. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22, with the Tukey multiple comparison procedure being employed to separate the means of treatments. The results showed a significant influence (P <0.05) on the buds with no effect (P> 0.05) on the number of tiller (T1, T2, T3 and T4) of rackets per plant, number of primary rackets per plant, plant length and diameter. These results revealed that the high amounts of fertilizer application increased the percentage of buds. The study confirmed that the application of high quality goat manure as fertilizer may increase cactus growth performance in terms of racket numbers per plant, number of primary rackets per plant, height and diameter.
Keywords: Buds percentage, Number of rackets, cactus, diameter measurement, goat fertilizer, number of rackets per plant, plant length