Effects of Poultry Manure in Combination with Mineral Fertilizer NPK 15-15-15 on Maize Production in an Urban Valley Bottom

Abstract

Effective fertilizer utilization is paramount in crop production. An experiment was conducted during the 2010 cropping seasons within the inland valley bottom of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The aim was to investigate the effect of NPK 15-15-15, and its combine effect with poultry on maize crops grown in soil with varying water regimes. Treatments involved were slope (partitioned into three; based on water regimes into upper (slope 10-5), middle (slope 5 - 2) and lower (less than 2)) and fertilizer (Addition of poultry manure with or without mineral fertilizer NPK 15-15-15) factors. The experiment was laid in a 2 x 3 factorial in a randomised complete block design with ten replications.. Application of poultry manure significantly (P<0.05) increased plant weights at the middle and lower regions by 17.5% and 24.0% over other plants with no manure application and in the same regions. At the middle region, a significant (P<0.05) increase was observed in mean yield of cob with husk (0.24 kg / plant) or without husk (0.16 kg /plant) combing manure with mineral fertilizer NPK. Application of manure in combination with mineral fertilizer significantly (P<0.05) improved plant growth parameters measured compared to mineral fertilizer alone at the middle region compared to other partitions of the land. Also, fortification of the mineral fertilizer with manure resulted in increased cob weight at the middle region over that of the lower and upper partitions by 33.33 and 39.13% respectively. Results of the study revealed that combination of mineral fertilizer NPK 15-15-15 with poultry manure works well with moderately sloppy land with low water logging potential.