Abstract
In a pot experiment, this study examined the impact of selected organic amendments on coastal plain and acid sulphate soils. Maize was used as a test crop. The treatments were as follows: cattle manure (cm), sheep manure (sm), mushroom production waste (mpw), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) biomass (whb) and urea. A completely randomized design with four replicates was used. Routine laboratory procedures were used to determine soil pH, total nitrogen, organic carbon, available phosphorus and exchangeable cations (Na, K, Ca and Mg). The organic amendments were also analyzed for pH, nitrogen and organic carbon, Mg, Ca, Na, K and P. Planting of test crop was done twice, each lasting for 30 days with a fallow period of 10 days. The following results were obtained: (i) At the end of the experiment, soil pH ranged between 6.2 and 8.2 in coastal plain sands and between 2.5 to 6.5 in acid sulphate soil. Soil pH was highest in coastal plain sands (8.2) and in acid sulphate soil (6.5) amended with water hyacinth biomass at the end of the experiment, (ii) Organic carbon content was significantly higher in acid sulphate (3.7%) than in coastal plain (1.7%) soils. This trend was sustained till the end of the experiment, (iii)Yield of maize shoot was highest in coastal plain sands amended with cattle manure and sheep manure during the first and second planting. This scenario was nearly repeated in acid sulphate soil, where the highest shoot yield was harvested from pots amended with cattle manure and water hyacinth biomass. These findings seem to attest to the chemical composition of the organic amendments used in this study and therefore warrant validation in an agronomic experiment.
Keywords:
mycorrhizal
inoculation
production
rotation
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