Abstract
Tillage is a basic soil management tool that significantly affects soil characteristics and plant development. This study examined the 2-year effects of tillage, poultry manure (PM) and NPK 20:10:10 fertilizer on soil chemical properties and maize yield. The experiment was a split-split- plot design with three replications. Tillage (zero tillage (ZT), minimum tillage (MT) and conventional tillage (CT)) was the main plot, the sub-plot comprised three PM treatments (0, 10 and 20 Mg ha-1) while the sub-sub-plot was NPK 20:10:10 fertilizer (applied at 0, 90, 120 and 150 kg N ha-1). At harvest, routine soil chemical properties, maize grain yield and yield parameters were measured. Soil chemical qualities were significantly higher under conservation tillage (ZT and MT) than CT with or without PM treatment and such increments were higher with NPK plus PM than their separate use. The soil organic carbon was higher by 28% and 20% under ZT and MT, respectively compared with CT in 2008 and 79% (ZT) and 65% (MT) compared with CT in 2009. Maize grain yields of 1.61 Mg ha-1 (2008) and 2.28 Mg ha-1 (2009) under MT were significantly higher than the yields from ZT and CT. Application of NPK plus PM resulted in 18-53% grain yield increments compared with their separate use under the three tillage systems. Therefore, improved soil chemical qualities and higher maize production can be achieved when organic and inorganic fertilizers are jointly applied than their separate use.
Keywords:
alfisol
conservation tillage
maize yield
soil chemical quality
*corresponding author: busamut@yahoo.com
busarima@funaab.edu.ng
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