PAPER TITLE :EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT ANIMAL MANURES ON SOIL PHYSICAL AND MICROBIAL PROPERTIES

APPLIED TROPICAL AGRICULTURE | VOLUME 22 NUMBER 1 2017

Paper Details

  • Author(s) : Adebola, A.E.*, Ewulo, B.S. and Arije, D.N.
  • Abstract:

Long term and continuous use of soil for crop production has implication on soil physical and microbial properties and as such there is need to examine ways of protecting the condition of the soil for productive use. Therefore, this study examined the effects of different animal manures on soil physical and microbial properties with the aim of recommending their use in soil management and crop production. The experiment was carried out at the Screen House of Crop, Soil and Pest Management Department of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. Two kilogram of the following animal manure: poultry manure, cow dung and pig manure was mixed with five kilograms of soil and moistened with water until all the pore spaces were filled. Also there was a control experiment where no manure was applied. The topsoil used for this experiment was collected from the Teaching and Research Farm of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. The experiment was arranged in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates in the screen house. Soil samples were collected weekly after treatment application (Poultry manure, cow dung, pig manure and control) beginning from the first week to third week for physical and microbial analysis. Result from this study indicates that application of different animal wastes increased certain productivity indicators through positive effect on soil physical and biological properties. Comparatively, pig manure improved soil productivity and the microbial activity of the soil more than cow dung and poultry manure. The decreasing order of general performance of these animal wastes in increasing microbial activity as related to soil microbial biomass and soil basal respiration is Pig manure (PG) (6.55) > Cow dung (CD) (5.42) > Poultry manure (PM) (5.31) > Control (1.25). Key words: Microbial biomass, organic matter, soil respiration, manure, properties