Abstract :
Field trials were carried out in 2008 and 2009
cropping seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of the
Department of Soil Science, University of Maiduguri,
Maiduguri (11o 53’ N; 13o 16’ E). The objective of the study
was to ascertain the effects of the mineral fertilizer in
combination with the three different organic manure sources
on the growth and yield of Maize in the study area. The
treatments consisted of four levels of nitrogen fertilizers (0,
45, 60 and 90 kg N/ha) combined with three types of organic
manures (cow dung, municipal wastes and poultry
droppings) applied at three rates of each organic manure
(0.0, 2.5, and 5.0 tons/ha). The experiment therefore
contained twenty-eight (28) treatments laid out in factorial
design and replicated three times in a randomized fashion.
Soil texture (particle size analysis), soil pH, electrical
conductivity (EC), effective cation exchange capacity
(ECEC), percentage base saturation (PBS), soil organic
carbon (SOC), total N, C:N ratio, available P (Bray-1), and
exchangeable K. An extra-early variety of maize (SAMMAZ
28) was obtained from the Promoting Sustainable
Agriculture in Borno State (PROSAB), Maiduguri. Plant
height, number of leaves per plant, and leaf area were some
of the growths parameters measured as well as grain yield in
kg/ha. Plant height was not so much affected by the
combination of nitrogen fertilizer and organic manure but
nitrogen levels alone significantly affected the plant height in
2008, 2009 and in the combined analysis. Leaf area was also
significantly affected by nitrogen levels in 2008, 2009 and in
the combined analysis. Leaf area was also significantly
affected by organic manure types in 2009 and in the
combined analysis but not in 2008. Combining rates of
nitrogen fertilizer (90 kg/ha N) with poultry droppings (5.0
tons/ha) gave the highest grain yield especially in 2008
(2466.7 kg/ha) and in the combined analysis (1883.7 kg/ha). It
could deduce that grain yield and yield parameters were
significantly increased with the application nitrogen fertilizer
(90 kg N/ha) in combination with cow dung and poultry
droppings at the rate of 5.0 tons/ha. Nitrogen fertilizer rate of
60 or 90 kg/ha in combination with poultry manure or cow
dung (5.0tons/ha) will give optimum yield of maize on the
savanna soils.
