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Effect of Crop geometry and Poultry Manure Rates on the Growth and Yield of Yam/Maise/Cassava Mixtures in a Degraded Ultisol
Abstract
A two year study on the effects of crop geometry and poultry manure rates on the growth and yield of Yam/maize/cassava intercrop was conducted at the Teaching and Research farm of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria.. The experiment was laid out as a 5x4 factorial in Randomized Complete Block Design replicated three times. The treatments consist of five poultry manure rates namely: 0kg/ha, 5000kg/ha, 10000kg//ha, 15000kg/ha and 20,000kg/ha as well as four different crop geometries viz, Yam/maize/cassava, Yam/maize, Cassava/maize and Yam/cassava respectively. Data on crop growth and yield parameters were collected and subjected to analysis of variance. Mean separation was done using least significant differences at 5% Level of probability. Results indicated that poultry manure reduced soil acidity from 4.48 to 5.88.in 2004 and from 4.36 to 6.98 in 2005. Poultry manure rates significantly (P=0.05) increased cassava and Maize plant heights at 4, 6 and 8 weeks after planting in the various crop geometry. The zero manure had the least crop plant height in all crop combinations. Poultry manure rates and crop geometry significantly influenced the yam tuber yield with 11005kg/ha (highest) observed in the 15000kg/ha manure rate under the Yam/maize/cassava crop geometry, highest mean cassava yield of 14200kg/ha realized from the 20000kg manure rate under the Cassava/maize crop mixture, while highest maize grain yield of 1,400kg/ha was recorded in the 10,000kg/ha manure rate under the yam/maize crop geometry respectively..Based on the result of this study, it is hereby strongly recommended to farmers to adopt the yam/maize/cassava intercrop at 15000kg/ha poultry for increased yield returns from yam and cassava.
Keywords: Crop geometry, poultry manure rates, crop yields, yam and cassava.
