EFFECT OF COWDUNG MANAGEMENT AND UREA FERTILIZER ON SOME SOIL CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND MAIZE (Zea mays L.) YIELD IN THE NORTHERN GUINEA SAVANNA OF NIGERIA

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EFFECT OF COWDUNG MANAGEMENT AND UREA FERTILIZER ON SOME SOIL CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND MAIZE (Zea mays L.) YIELD IN THE NORTHERN GUINEA SAVANNA OF NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Greenhouse and field studies were conducted at Samaru, Zaria (11o 11” N, 7o 38” E ) in the Northern Guinea Savanna agro ecological zone of Nigeria to evaluate cowdung management options that could best conserve nutrients contained in the cowdung thereby improving its quality before application to the field, the effect of cowdung application to the field on nutrient content and availability to crops in the soil and the individual and combined effects of cowdung and urea fertilizer on soil chemical properties and the yield and yield components of maize. Treatments consisted of first incubating the cowdung material for one month under different management practices in the field and subjecting it to different storage times, from March (12 weeks) to June (0 week) in the various years of experimentation. Time of storage, from termination of incubation to field application provided another factor for evaluation of 0 to 12 weeks of storage. The cowdung was assessed in the greenhouse and field, using maize as a test crop. In the field, two locations (Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru and Samaru College of Agriculture Farms) were used and the residual effect for each of the locations was also observed. In the greenhouse and field, the treatments consisted of three management methods (surface heaped uncovered, surface heaped covered and pit covered) four storage durations (12 weeks, 8 weeks, 4 weeks and 0 week) and two levels of N ( 0 and 45 kg N ha-1) to give a total of twenty-four treatment combinations. Then, there were two control plots, where one of them no cow dung or N fertilizer was applied, while in the second one no cowdung was applied but NPK fertilizer was added at the rate of 120 kg N ha-1 (except that in the field trials the NPK fertilizer combination ix was not included). This brings a total of 26 treatment combinations in the greenhouse and 25 in the field. The experiments were factorial experiments, 3 x 4 x 2, laid out in a randomized complete block design (RBCD), replicated three times. The results of analysis of the incubated cowdung material at termination of incubation and just before application as soil amendment in both field and greenhouse, showed that incubating cowdung in the pit covered gave higher values of total N. The control (untreated cowdung) was comparable to the pit covered method and it was lower by 4.46 %. After field storage of cowdung, the control treatment gave a higher total N value than the other management practices, surface heaped uncovered, surface heaped covered and pit covered. The pooled values of P at the termination of incubation and after field storage showed that the control treatment gave values that were higher than the various management practices. At the termination of incubation and after field storage for the two years pooled, the cowdung subjected to different management practices gave higher values of K, Ca and Mg compared to the control. The values of total N, exchangeable Ca and Mg were generally lower at just before use as soil amendment compared to at the termination of incubation. Subjecting cowdung to different management practices decreased the organic carbon content of cowdung at both the time of termination of incubation and at after field storage, making the control treatment to have higher values than the other treatments. Comparing the treatments at after incubation and field storage, the later gave lower organic carbon values. The 0 week field stored cowdung (June) generally gave higher values of total N which was comparable to the control and P, while the 12 weeks stored cowdung (March) gave x higher values of K. Cowdung management methods, duration of cowdung storage significantly(P < 0.05) increased some of the soil chemical properties(soil pH, total N, available P and organic carbon) in the greenhouse and field. The application of 45 kg N ha-1 significantly (P < 0.05) gave higher values of yield and yield components of maize in both the greenhouse and field experiments. The highest maize grain yield of 2,545.8 kg ha-1 was obtained when 45 kg N ha-1 at surface heaped covered April direct effect, in 2003 season at the Institute for Agricultural Research farm. The application of N at 45 kg N ha-1 gave higher soil values for N and P than at 0 kg N ha-1 treatment (direct evaluation), while K values were higher at the 0 kg N ha-1 treatment than the 45 kg N ha-1 in the field. Total N, available P and organic C in most cases positively correlated with maize grain yield, dry matter yield and plant height. Grain yield was closely associated with stover yield and plant height. The positive correlation obtained between most of the soil parameters and the yield and growth parameters, indicates that there were positive benefits of the cowdung treatments and the yield components of maize

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