EFFECT OF NEEM COMPOST AND ITS APPLICATION RATE ON THE ORGANIC CARBON CONTENT IN THE SOIL OF GIDAN KWANO, MINNA, NIGER STATE.

This study investigated the effects of different rates of neem compost application on the organic carbon content of the soil in Gidan Kwano, Minna Niger sate, Nigeria, a tropical region. Neem (Azadirachta indica) compost has demonstrated potential as a good agricultural sustainability substitute for inorganic fertilizer, which farmers are finding more and more unaffordable due to its daily cost and toxic after-effects from leaching and drainage that carry the fertilizers into bodies of water. However, its precise effects on soil organic carbon in this area are still under exploration. A screen house experiment was conducted at the Soil Science and Land Management Department screen house to determine the effect of Neem-based compost rate on soil chemical and physical properties and its effect on the soil organic carbon. The used soil sample was sampled in a random but systematic manner at the depth of 0 to 20 with 10 to 15 soil sampled one treatments were used and was replicated three times to minimize error, a control was set out to monitor the effects of the applied treatments. Where soil with 0 tons/ha was the control and soil of 5 tons/ha received 5 g of the compost and soil of 10 tons/ha received 10 g of the compost. The experiment lasted for two weeks after which the soil was air dried and was taken to the soil science laboratory for analysis. The design was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The result obtained was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using mini tab 17 package and the means was separated using the turkey simultaneous at 95 % level of probability. On the effects of the treatments the 5 g rate of neem compost was 1.44 g/kg, 10 g rate of compost was 1.20 and the control was 0.96 g/kg, Generally, the applied treatments improved soil organic carbon. The control, 5g rate of neem compost and 10 g of neem compost were all significantly differed