EFFECT OF ORGANIC MANURE (COW DUNG) ON THE GROWTH ATTRIBUTES OF COWPEA (VIGNA UNGUICULATA. L) IN THE SUDAN SAVANNAH OF BORNO STATE
Abstract
ABSTRACT:
Cowpea cultivation in Nigeria is practiced by smallholder farmers who use little or no inputs like microbial inoculants and fertilizer. This study was conducted to to investigate the effect of cow dung as an organic fertilizer on cowpea growth in Maiduguri,Borno State, within the Sudan Savannah agro-ecological zone of Nigeria. The experiment will focus on the impact of different cow dung application rates on key growth parameters of cowpea, including plant height,number of leaves and number of branches per plants, The experiment was conducted at experimental farm of the soil science department,faculty of agriculture, University of Mlaiduguri using A Randomized complete block design with three replication.
The treatments consisted of four organic manure rates; 0,6.5,12.5, and 18.5t/ha,designated as TO,T1,T2,T3, respectively.
The treatments are; TRTO = Nomanure (control),TRT1=CoWdung 6.5t/ha,TRT2=CoWdung
12.5t/ha,TRT3=CoWdung 18t/ha) were used to assess the effect of cow dung on the growth attributes of cowpea in the experiment. The result of the experiment revealed that organic manure had positive effect on the growth and development of cowpea. The organic manure applied had significant influence in height of plant, number of leaves and the number of branches on the treatments plots over the control. It was observed also that organic manure applied at 18.5and 12.5t/ha performed better and gave better growth than the control plots.
Therefore, based on the results obtained from the experiment, cow dung rates of 6.5t/ha to 18.5/ha are recommended for the production of cowpea inthe Sudan Savannah of Borno State
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