Abstract:
Field experiment was conducted to assess the effect of sources of animals’ manure
and rates of inorganic NP on yield and yield related parameters of maize on the
saline soil at Alage, southern Ethiopia. Factorial combinations of three sources of
animals’ manure (beef, goat, and poultry), and five rates (0, 25%, 50%, 75%, and
100%) of the recommended dose of inorganic NP fertilizers (92 kg N ha-1 and 69 kg
P2O5 ha-1) were laid out in randomized complete block design with three
replications. The interaction effect of sources of animal and inorganic NP were
significant on soils AvK, AvP, OC, TN, CEC, Ex Ca, Ex Mg, Ex Na, ESP, and SAR.
The highest available potassium (157.887 mg /kg) was obtained from use of beef
manure and 100% of the recommended NP, the highest available P (15.0 ppm) was
recorded with beef manure at 25% of inorganic NP, the highest organic carbon
content was recorded with the application of beef manure with the zero NP, the
highest total nitrogen (0.243%) was obtained from poultry’s manure at 50%
inorganic NP, and the highest CEC (33.71 cmol (+)/kg) was obtained with poultry
manure combined with 100% NP. Similarly, the interaction effect was significant on
10
days to silking, days to physiological maturity, number of kernels per ear,
aboveground dry biomass, and harvest index. The highest days to silking (72.0
days), days to maturity (160.0 days), and number of kernels per ear (558.3) were
recorded with the combination of poultry manure and 100% inorganic NP, while the
highest above ground dry biomass (28.21 t ha-1) was recorded at the combination of
goat’s manure at the level of 100% inorganic NP. The main effect of manure source
showed significantly highest days to 50% tasseling (67.93), plant height (2.37 m),
and thousand kernels weight (504 g) with the application of poultry manure.
Likewise, the main effect of inorganic NP showed that as the rate of inorganic NP
increased from zero to 100%, days to 50% tasseling, the plant height, ear length,
number of ears per plant, thousand kernel weight and grain yield were increased
significantly. Thus, the highest maize grain yield (11.832 t ha-1) was obtained with
the application of 100% of inorganic NP and among the sources of manure, poultry
manure gave the highest grain yield (10.594 t ha-1).
