Cow Dung and Cassava Peel Effect on Selected Soil Nutrient Indices and Germination of Maize

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1 Science Journal of Agricultural Research & Management ISSN: Author(s) CC Attribution 3.0 License. Research Article Published By Science Journal Publication International Open Access Publisher Volume 2012, Article ID sjarm-152, 6 Pages, doi: /sjarm/152 Cow Dung and Cassava Peel Effect on Selected Soil Nutrient Indices and Germination of Maize Accepted 2nd April, 2012 Dr. Roseta C Eneje¹*, C. J. Nwosu¹ ¹*Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike ¹Department of Soil Science And Agro-climatology, Nigeria. Corresponding Author chizma2001@ yahoo.com Abstract The effect of organic manures from cowdung and cassava peel in single and combined application on selected soil nutrient indices and maize germination was assessed on a sandyclayloam soil in South Eastern Nigeria. The selected soil nutrient indices were electrical conductivity, (EC), soil activity (ph) N-mineralization (N-M), exchangeable cations (ECEC) percent base saturation (BS%), available phosphorus(avail P), and total organic carbon (OC). These and the germination percent of maize were assessed in the green house of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, the organic manure were applied at 0%, 1% 5% and 10% respectively on 3kg soil. The germination percent was assessed within 7days in the green house. The treatment were replicated three times and incubated for one week before samples were taken for laboratory analysis. Data obtained were subjected to ANOVA using a 4X3 factorial in a CRD; significant means was separated using FLSD0.05. Result indicated statistically significant effect of organic manure treatments on EC, ECEC, Ca and Na++ ions in the amended soil, while the other nutrient indices were not significantly affected. Spearman Rank Correlation between germination percentage of maize and the nutrient indices indicated that OC% and N-mineralization were low but correlated positively and significantly with germination percentage while available P was high but had an inverse relationship with germination percentage indicating that the improvements in percent OC and N-mineralization resulted in more maize seed germination within the period of assessment. Keyword:Germination percentage, N-mineralization, organic carbon, electrical conductivity, ECEC Introduction Agricultural productivity is generally limited by nutrient supply because either the soil does not supply enough of one or more nutrient or sometimes because too much of a nutrient is freely available to a plant. Benefits of compost amendment to soil also include ph stabilization, faster water infiltration, enhanced soil aggregation, better or enhanced direct nutrient uptake by plant of specific chemicals needed for the development of the immune system. The properties of soil that ensure that there is satisfactory nutrient supply for crops grouped as soil nutrient indices is thus paramount importance before advocacy of intensive input into the soil. Soil acidity and organic matter have been recognized as most important variable which control satisfactory nutrient supply (Hawksworth, 1984). Reports (Griffin et al. 2000) indicate that the amount of N in manure for instance vary with different manures, hence manure application on farmland to increase soil fertility traditionally on the basics of crop N requirement ensured accurate and efficient use of input as well as maximization of crop yield and net return. Also research report suggest that manure application in excess of crop needs can cause significant build up of phosphorus, nitrogen and other ions and salts, (Hao et al., 2003), thus insufficient knowledge of specific fertilizer values and inadequate application rates can result in under or over use and ultimate knowledge depend on specific locations type of amendment and crop of interest. Therefore the objective of this study is to investigate the effect of composts from cassava peel and poultry manure on the germination percentage of maize and on selected soil nutrient indices. Materials and Methods Study site The experiment was carried in the green house with soil samples collected at the Western farm of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia State. The location is within the low land rainforest and lies between latitude N and longitude E, with a mean annual and minimum temperature of 320C and 230C respectively, and mean altitude of 122m above sea level. It has an annual rainfall range of mm and relative humidity of 63%-80% (NRCRI, Umudike, 2005). Organic amendments The organic amendments used were cow dung (CD) and cassava peels (CP) in single and combined applications (CD, CP, CD+CP) and a control (C). The cow dung was collected from MOUA animal farm and the cassava peel was collected from NRCRI cassava mill, the treatment were applied at the rates of 0%, 1%, 5% and 10% equivalent to 0g, 30g, 150g and 300g per 3Kg soil respectively. Each of the treatments was replicated three times. Soil sampling and incubation Soil sample was collected at 0-30cm depth, air dried and passed through a 2mm mesh sieve, before amendment application and incubation. The treatments were applied at the selected rates in the 3kg capacity buckets perforated at the bottom to allow free movement of water and air and moistened to 50% field capacity water content and incubated for one week after which samples were collected for laboratory analysis. Laboratory analysis Soil nutrient indices analyzed were soil activity (soil ph in a 1:2.5 soil water suspension with CaCl2 using EEL glass Corresponding Author:Dr. Roseta C Eneje Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike chizma2001@yahoo.com

2 Science Journal of Agricultural Research & Management (ISSN: ) Page 2 electrode ph meter (Maclean, 1965), organic carbon by the dichromate wet oxidation method (Walkley and Black, 1934), total nitrogen by Macro Kjeldahl method (Bremner and Mulvaney 1982) and available phosphorus was determined using Bray II method as described by Bray and Kurtz (1945). Exchangeable acidity was determined by titration method, exchangeable K, Ca, Mg, and Na in the filtrate were determined using a flame photometer with appropriate filter and Mg determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Nitrogen mineralization was determined as described by Brady and Weil (2002). Based on predetermined value of organic matter content of a soil, soil management practices and climate and soil texture an estimation of the amount of N mineralizable per year was made using the following equation: kgnmineralised= A kg SOM 100kg soil Bkg soil ha15cmdeep CkgN 100kgSOM DkgSOM mineralized 100kgSOM Where A= amount of soil organic matter (SOM) in the upper 15cm of soil B= weight of soil per hectare to the depth of 15cm C = amount of nitrogen in the SOM D = amount of SOM likely to be mineralized in one year, for a given soil (a value of 2.5kg SOM mineralized / 100kg SOM was assumed) Electrical conductivity (EC) This was determined in 1:2 soil / water ratio using conductivity bridge (Rhaodes 1982). The soil sample was saturated with distilled water and mixed to a paste consistency, after standing overnight the electrical conductivity of water extracted from the paste was measured (ECe). The variant of this method involves the EC of the solution extracted from a 1:2 soil -water mixture after 0.5hours of shaking (ECw). Data Analysis Data collected was subjected to analysis of variance using a 4X3 factorial in complete randomized design (CRD), significant means were detected using least significant difference (F-LSD) at 5% probability level. Data were also subjected to correlation analysis using spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results and Discussion The properties of the amendments used for this study (Table 1) show that the cowdung and cassava peels used were strongly alkaline, while nutrient status as indicated by the C:N ratio, organic carbon, phosphorous and nitrogen were higher in cassava peel than in the cowdung. The textural class of the soil used in this study (Table 2), is sandy clay loam. The soil was high in organic carbon and effective cation exchange capacity, while the exchangeable acidity and exchangeable bases were moderately low. There were increases in the ph and electrical conductivity of the amended soil over the control, (Table 3) the increases in soil ph in the amended soil is attributable to the precipitation of Al(OH)3 in to soil solution, the cassava peels had the lowest electrical conductivity values relative to the control and other organic amendments. These observations are supported by reports of Rangaraj et al (2007) that the application of organic matter is associated with improvements in soil ph. There were improvement in effective cation exchange capacity and calcium over the control (Table 3), the highest improvement was obtained with the admixture of cowdung and cassava peels. This is attributable to the quality of organic amendment used as indicated in table 1, which supports the improvements in the exchangeable acidity and organic matter content of the amended soil over the control. The observations are supported by the research reports of Eneje and Ukwuoma (2005) and Ano and Agwu 2005) who attributed these effects to precipitation of Al(OH)3 Research reports (Anikwe, 2000; Mbah and Mbagwu, 2006) also support the fact that there exist a close relationship between nutrient status of the soil and organic matter content as found in this study (Table 4). In this study available P correlated negatively with all the selected nutrient indices except electrical conductivity, suggesting that the soils available P concentration increased as the electrical conductivity increased, while the effective cation exchange capacity and soil ph were adversely related. Soil mineral nitrogen correlated positively with % BS, ECEC ionic salts (Ca+, Na++and K+) content as well as percent OC, but negatively with exchangeable acidity and electrical conductivity. The degree of relationship between selected nutrient indices and percent germination of maize (Table 5), show that there was a positive but low correlation between percent germination and organic carbon and N-mineralization, while available P had high but negative relationship with germination percentage. This indicates that organic carbon and N- mineralization increases resulted in more of the maize seeds germinating within the period of assessment while available P did not positively affect the germination rate of maize. Generally on addition of manure soil fertility level and yield of soil is raised greater than soils that received no treatment or other inputs. Also manure application in excess of crop needs especially on long term basics can result in a significant build up of phosphorous, nitrogen and other ions and salts in the soil.

3 Science Journal of Agricultural Research & Management (ISSN: ) Page 3 Summary and Conclusion This study observed that organic materials from cassava peels and cowdung affected effective cation exchange capacity, electrical conductivity, calcium and magnesium of the soil under study. Increases were observed especially with the application of admixture of Cowdung and Cassava peels, for ECEC with the highest values obtained at the 1000t/ha rate of application, while decreases in electrical conductivity was obtained only with application of Cow dung alone. These effects were observed as early as one week after amendment application. Spearman rank correlation of parameters show that the germination percent increased as organic carbon and N increased while available P had no significant effect on germination of maize seed. 13. Rangaraj, T. Somasundaram, E. Mohamed Amanullah, M. Thirumrugan, V, Ramesh, S. and Ravi, S. (2007). Effect of Agro-industrial waste on soil properties and yield of irrigated Finger Millet (Eleusine Covacana L. Gaertn) In Coastal Soil. Research Journal of agriculture and Biological Sciences, 3(3): pp Walkley A. and Black I. A. (1934). An examination of the different method for determining soil organic matter and proposed modification of the chromic and digestion method. Soil Science 37: References 1. Anikwe, M. A. N. (2000). Amelioration of a heavy clay loam soil with rice husk and its effect on soil physical properties and maize yield. Bioresource Technology. 74, Ano, A. O. and Agwu J.A. (2005): Effect of Animal Manures on Selected Soils, Chemical properties (1) Nigerian Journal of Soil Science. Vol.15. P Bray, R. H. and L. T. Kurtz (1945): Determination of Total Organic and Available Forms of P in Soil Science. 4. Bremmer, J.M. and Mulvaney, C.S. (1982). Nitrogen Total: In Method of Soil Analysis Part 2. 2nd ed A.L. Page et al eds). Pp ASA Soil Sci. Soc. America Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. 5. Eneje, R. C. and Ukwuoma, V. E. (2005) Plant and animal organic manure effects on a vegetable and orchard farm soils. Part I: Effect on soil chemical properties. Journal of Agriculture, Agricultural Technology and Environment. Vol. 1 (1) Griffin, T. S. and C W. Honeycutt. (2000). Using growing degree days to predict nitrogen availability from live stock manures. Soil Science Soc. America Journal 64: pp Hao, X., C. Chabe, G. R. Travia, F. Zhang. (2003). Soil and Carbon and Nitrogen response to 25 annual cattle manure application. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 166: Hawksworth, D. L. (1984) Advancing Agricultural production in Africa. Proceedings of CAB's First Scientific Conference, Arusha, Tanzania, Mbah, C. N. and Mbagwu, J. S. C. (2006). Effect of animal waste in physicochemical properties of a dystric Leptosol and maize yield in South Eastern Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Soil Science Vol. 16, McLean, I. O. (1965): Aluminium in L. A, Black (ed) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part II Am. Soc. Agro Madison N1pp Mosaddeghi, M. R. Hajabbasi, M. A. Hemmat, A. M. Afuni (2000). Soil Compatibility as affected by soil moisture content and farmyard manure in Central Iran. Soil T i l l a g e Research. 55, pp NRCRI, Umudike (2005). NRCRI Umudike (2005) National Root Crop Research Institute, Umudike Bulletin.

4 Science Journal of Agricultural Research & Management (ISSN: ) Page 4 Table1: Properties of amendment used for the study Properties Cowdung Cassava peel OC (%) OM (%) N(%) C:N K (%) P (%) ph(h2o) Ec e ( µs/cm) Table 2: Physico-chemical characteristics of the soil used for the study Characteristics Values Sand (%) 77.8 Silt (%) 6.00 Clay (%) 16.2 Textural class Sandy clay loam ph (H2O) 5.06 K + (cmol + /kg) 0.11 Ca ++ (cmol + /kg) Mg + (cmol + /kg) 2.30 Na ++ (cmol + /kg) 0.06 N (%) 0.17 ECEC(cmol + /kg) Base Saturation EA (cmol + /kg) 1.12 Ec e ( µs/cm) 500.0

5 Science Journal of Agricultural Research & Management (ISSN: ) Page 5 Table 3: Effect of composted amendment on selected physicochemical properties of study soils. Treatment Ec e (µs/cm) K OM (%) ECEC (cmol+/kg) EA (Cmol+/kg) (Cmol+/kg) A B C a B c a b C a b c c a b CD CP M C FLSD( 0.05 )=114.0 FLSD( 0.05 ) =0.024 FLSD( 0.05 )= FLSD( 0.05 )=12.16 FLSD( 0.05 ) =0.759

6 Science Journal of Agricultural Research & Management (ISSN: ) Page 6 Table 4: Spearman rank correlation matrix of selected parameters Avail P BS Ca EA EC ECEC K Mg N Na OC ph Avail P BS Ca EA EC ECEC K Mg N Na OC ph Table 5: Correlation parameter of percent seed germination and selected nutrient indices X Y R r2 p-value %OC % germination Avail. P % germination N-mineralization % germination

Tropentag 2007, October 9-11, 2007 Witzenhausen, Germany,

Tropentag 2007, October 9-11, 2007 Witzenhausen, Germany, 1 Influence of Small scale Irrigation on Selected Soil Chemical Properties Fite 1* Getaneh, Abdenna Deressa 2 and Wakene Negassa 3 1 Wollega University, Faculty of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ethiopia