Effect of Trichoderma Inoculated Organic Manure on Water Retention Characteristics of Two Texturally Contrasting Soils in Nsukka, Southeastern, Nigeria

The effect of Trichoderma inoculated organic manure on water retention charac- teristics of two texturally contrasting soils was investigated in the glasshouse of the Department of Soil Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The study in- volved two texturally contrasting soils, sandy loam (SL) and loamy sand (LS) amended with poultry manure (PM) at three rates (10 t/ha, 20 t/ha and 30 t/ha) and inoculated with Trichoderma at two rates (0 and 10 millilitres) per 4 kg of potted soil. The soil-poultry manure-Trichoderma mixture was watered to field capacity, tied in a black polythene bag and incubated for 30, 60 and 90 days re- spectively. Soil samples were collected and analyzed to ascertain how the treat- ments influ- enced the soil water retention characteristics (SWRC) and plant avail- able water capacity (PAWC) of the soils. The data obtained were analyzed using GENSTAT. Significant (p<0.05) effect of soil texture on PAWC and SWRC at 10 kPa, 33 kPa and 1500 kPa at 30, 60 and 90 days of incubation were obtained. Generally, the results showed an increasing trend across the three incubation peri- ods, 30 days < 60 days < 90 days. Similarly,the results showed that the different organic manure rates significantly (p<0.05) influenced PAWC and SWRC at 10 kPa, 33 kPa and 1500 kPa at 30, 60 and 90 days of incubation. However, Tricho- derma inocula- tion did not influence PAWC and SWRC of the soils significantly (p<0.05) at 10 kPa, 33 kPa and 1500 kPa after 30, 60 and 90 days of incubation. The study con- cluded that soil texture and the amount of organic manure influ- enced PAWC and SWRC especially at 10 kPa, and 33 kPa but to a lesser extent at 1500 kPa.