Soil Chemical Properties, Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Maize as Influenced by Plant and Animal Based Organic Amendments

The influence of plant and animal-based organic amendments on soil chemical properties, yield and nutrient uptake by maize was studied for two years at the Research Farm of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, South-Western, Nigeria. The treatments used were: Poultry manure (PM); Compost (CP) derived from Poultry manure and Tithonia diversifolia; fresh Tithonia diversifolia applied as green manure (GM); Sunshine organo-mineral fertilizer (OMF); Neem organo compound fertilizer (NF) at 10 t/ha; N-P-K-20-10-10 (CF) at 120 kg N/ha; and control. They were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replicates under maize (variety-SUWAN 1) cropping. Results showed that maize yield was significantly (P<0.05) increased by OMF and NF application when compared to the control in both years. N uptake was increased to 1.49 and 0.72 t/ha by OMF and NF applications respectively. P uptake was significantly (P<0.05) improved over the control by NF and OMF application while CF, OMF and PM applications promoted K uptake. P content of post-planting soil was increased by PM and NF while the highest K content was given by CP application.