Effect of NPK Fertilizer Fortified with Crop Residues on the Performance of Maize
Bello, W. B. Adekunle, I.O., Aribisala, L.A. and Okoro- Robinson, M.O
Department of Agricultural Technology, Oyo State College of Agriculture, P.M.B 10, Igbo-ora Oyo State Nigeria.
Accepted on July 31, 2013
Abstract
Field experiment was conducted in two cropping seasons (March and September, 2011) at the Commercial and Research Farm of the Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora on the effect of crop residues parkia biglobosa, maize stover and NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer on growth and yield of maize. The experiments were arranged in a Randomized complete Block Design (RCBD) and (SUWAN-Y) maize variety was used as test crop. There were six treatments replicated three times. The treatments include control (0.0t/ha), Parkia biglobosa residue (15t/ha), maize residue (15t/ha), NPK 15 :15:15 fertilizer, (120kg/ha), NPK 15:15 fertilizer (60kg/ha) +Parkia biglobosa residue (7.5t/ha) and NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer (60kg/ha) +maize residue (7.5t/ha). Data were analyzed with the use of Analysis of variance and the means separated by Duncan Multiple Range Test at 5% level of probability. The result showed that NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer (60kg/ha) +Parkia biglobosa residue (7.5t/ha) significantly (P<0.05) improved the grain yield than others and with 283.24% better than the control. The order of response of most characters considered to the treatments were NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer (60kg/ha)+Parkia biglobosa residue (7.5t/ha) >NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer (120kg/ha) >NPK fertilizer 15:15:15 (60kg/ha) +maize residue (7.5t/ha)>Parkia biglobosa residue (5t/ha)>maize residue (15t/ha) and the control was the least. Maize grain yield obtained by using NPK fertilizer 15:15:15 (120kg/ha) gave higher grain than NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer (60kg/ha) +maize residue (7.5t/ha) while Parkia biglobosa residue (15t/ha) also significantly out-yielded maize treated with maize residue (15 t/ha) and significantly increased (P<0.05) than the use of maize residue (15t/ha) with and the control the least.