Performance Of African Egg Plant (Solanum Macrocapon) Amaranths (Amaranthus Caudatus) Under The Influence Of Some Organic Fertilizer

Abstract

Organic fertilizer sources are regarded as cheap and easily available alternatives to mineral fertilizers commonly used to improve the nutrient status of soils for crop production. A field experiment was conducted at University of Ibadan, Nigeria to evaluate the effect of six organic sources of fertilizer applied at 5 and 10 t ha-1 on shoot-root ratio, number of leaves, plant height and total dry weight of Solanum macrocapon and Amaranthus caudatus.
The organic fertilizers were dried pruning of Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala and Senna seamea, sorted city refuse and poultry manure. Mineral NPK fertilisers at the rates of 35 kg N ha^-1, 17 kg P ha^-1, 13 kg K ha^-1, 70 kg N ha^-1; 34 kg P ha^-1; 26 kg K ha^-1 and an unfertilised control treatments were also imposed. Each of the treatments was replicated three times in a randomised complete block design and means compared using standard error (p<0.05). The results indicated that both Solanum macrocapon and Amaranthus caudatus had significant yields (p<0.05) at the rate of 10 t ha^-1 of Gliricidia sepium pruning than other treatments used in this investigation. Thus, application of Gliricidia sepium pruning at the rate 10 t ha^-1 may serve as alternative to mineral fertilizer N-P-K commonly used to fertilize these crops.

Keywords: Organic fertilizers, Gliricidia sepium, Amaranthus caudatus, Solanum macrocapon

JOAFSS Vol. 4 (1) 2006: pp. 127-134