Growth and yield of maize as affected by fertilizer types in the Southern Guinea Savannah, Nigeria
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Date
2018
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Abstract
A field trial was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm, Kwara State University,
Malete, in the 2017 cropping season to investigate the growth and yield of maize as
affected by fertilizer types. The five fertilizers tested were four organic-based fertilizers
(KOBF-1, KOBF-2, Aleshinloye Grade A, and poultry manure), inorganic NPK fertilizer,
and the control without soil amendment. The fertilizers, except poultry manure, were
applied at the rates of 100 kgN/ha and the treatments arranged in a Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. Application of poultry manure,
which was applied at 10 t/ha, was found to be superior compared to all other treatments
in all the parameters measured. The three formulated organic-based fertilizers were
Aleshinloye Grade A (a commercially available fertilizer formulated with household wastes
and cow dung), KOBF-1 and KOBF-2 (Kwara Organic-Based Fertilizers in development
by Kwara State University and formulated with poultry manure and tithonia plants).
Aleshinloye Grade A produced inferior growth and yield and yield components of maize
compared to the other organic-based fertilizers. The control took a significantly longer
number of days to tasseling and silking (62 and 68 days, respectively) compared to the
other treatments. The results indicated that, in terms of overall grain yield in kg/ha, poultry
manure produced the highest yield (4,633 kg/ha), followed by the inorganic fertilizer
(4,096 kg/ha), then KOBF-1 and KOBF-2 with similar values (3,163 and 2,923 kg/ha,
respectively), followed by Aleshinloye Grade A (2,160.00 kg/ha). The control treatment
gave the least grain yield (1,148.20 kg/ha). The organic fertilizers tested all proved to be
effective in raising yields. Organic fertilisers have known ecological and environmental
benefits and are recommended for inclusion in the development of national fertilizer
programmes for sustainable crop production.