Effect of Poultry Dropping and Urea Fertilizer On Growth Performance and Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) Dry Matter

Abstract

Pot experiment was carried out to determine the integrative effect of Urea (46:0:0) fertilizer amended with poultry dropping, on Sorghum growth parameters and dry matter at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Agricultural Education Federal College of Education, Zaria. Poultry droppings were applied at 0, 9, 18, and 27tha-1 along with 60kg/ha Urea (46%) fertilizer mixed with 10kg of soil, The four treatments were replicated 3 times to give 12 pots except for control. SAMSORG 53 Sorghum variety purchased from InstitudeforAgricultural Research Samaru was sowed as the test crop. The experimental design was a completely randomized design (CRD). Data on stem girth (cm), leaf number, plant height(cm), and dry matter yield (g) were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were separated using the least significant difference (LSD). At 5% level of probability. Results obtained indicated that the soil used is Sandy loam. The application of poultry dropping at 27tha-1 had the tallest Sorghum plant height with a mean of 62.54cm. compared with control treatment. However,Sorghum leaf number was significant at 8WAS with poultry dropping at 27tha-1 had the highest leaf number of 8.0. The highest Sorghum dry matter yield with a mean of 40.20g was obtained with poultry dropping at 27t/h application rate. The Urea(46%) fertilizer amended with poultry dropping, significantly improved vegetative and post-anthesis development, in addition to soil physical and chemical properties, under continuous cultivation applications of poultry dropping by smallholder farmers can be a cost-effective organic input for sustainable sorghum production thereby reducing the dependence and cost reduction on mineral fertilizer among smallholder in the rural communities of the Savannah region of Nigeria. Keywords: Sorghum, smallholder, Poultry dropping, Urea, Dry matter, smallholder Journal Reference Format: Nathaniel, A.H. (2024): Effect of Poultry Dropping and Urea Fertilizer On Growth Performance and Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) Dry Matter. Humanities, Management, Arts, Education & the Social Sciences Journal. Vol. 12. No. 2, Pp 37-44 www.isteams.net/humanitiesjournal. dx.doi.org/10.22624/AIMS/HUMANITIES/V12N2P5