Evaluation of poultry manure, cattle dung, water and cattle urine-based composts on soil chemical properties, growth and yield of Amaranthus cruentus L.

Abstract

The inclusion of cattle urine in compost preparation will improve compost quality, particularly with respect to nutrient composition. Field experiments were conducted at the organic farm of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State in 2014 and 2016 to evaluate the ef­fects of water and cattle urine composts, sole poultry manure and cattle dung on post-harvest soil properties, growth and yield of Amaranthus cruentus. Treatments used were: compost derived from poultry manure + rice husk with water as source of moisture at 2.5, 5.0, 6.5 and 7.5 t ha-1, (PRW2.5, PRW5, PRW6.5 and PRW7.5 respectively), compost derived from poultry manure + rice husk with cattle urine as source of moisture at 2.5, 5.0, 5.4 and 7.5 t ha-1 (PRU2.5, PRW5, PRW5.4 and PRW7.5 respectively) and control. Post-harvest soil was analyzed for chemical properties, agronomic parameters and yield of Amaranthus cruentus were evaluated. Results showed that the application of PRU5.4 resulted in highest values for most of the agronomic parameters in both years, while the competition for highest values of post-harvest soil parame­ters was between PRW5 and PRW6.5. The highest values of Amaranthus cruentus yield in both years resulted from the application of PRU5.4 and PM3.