ABSTRACT
The study on the effect of organic manure (poultry
dropping, pig dropping and green leave manure) on the performance of growth and
yield of groundnut was carried out during 2017 cropping season at eh student
research farm of Federal College of Agriculture Ishiagu, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
The experimental design was Randomized complete Block Design (RCBD). There were
four treatment which consist of T1 (green leave), T2
(control), T3 (piggry dropping), T4 (poultry dropping).
The treatment were replicated three times with 12 plots of 3m to 3m to give a
total area of 13m x 17m (221m2). The parameters considered were
plant height number of leaves, branches and weight of the fresh pod of
groundnut. The tool used for the data analysis were (LSD). There were
significant differences (P<0.05) among the treatments on the mean plant
height and mean number of leaves. The treatment T4 (poultry
dropping) gave the best performance yield of groundnut compared with the other
treatments while green leaves gave the lowest yield. The use of poultry
dropping alone is therefore recommended for the cultivation of groundnut for
optimum yield of crop.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Groundnut also called peanuts,
monkey nuts and earth’s nut is grown as an oil seed. It is an annual grain
legume crop. It belongs to the family leguminous. It is a major cash crop and
widely grown in particularly al the topical and sub-tropical regions of the
world for direct use as food, for al as well as for the high protein meal
produced after oil extraction, Delonta R. J. (2008) Groundnut originated from
Latin America. The portieguese were responsible for its introduction into were
Africa from Brazil in the 16th Century as a sources of vegetable
oil. It is second in importance only to soya beans and moreover there has been
a considered increase in the average planting and total production whcih was
over 18.9 million of unshaved nuts in 2001. However, the large producers such
as India and China who produce 4.5 and 2.5 million per annum respectively
consumed most of their crops internally. In west Africa however, Senegal,
Niger, Gombia and Sudan all export considerable quantities of the crop. Nigeria
was until 1974 the worlds lending exporter but is how an importer (Komotate
rainfall ranging from 80.132 cm per annum and from moderate to high temperature
of between 25-400c, rich sandy – loam soil is ideal for the growing
of groundnut and loose soil helps the crop bury its fruits in the soil.
Groundnuts proteins serves as an
excellent supplement to cereals, with other starch, crop that are comparatively
high in muthinius and cystine, but low in lysine and hyptophan. Groundnut oil
is a high quality non-drying oil that is used in the preparation of
hydrogenated cooking fats and frying oil.
A fraction that settles out during
the manufacturing process is used for making soap. About 55% of shelled
groundnut in the USA is used annually to make groundnut butter. The butter is
very rich in fat content. Groundnut either in pod or shelled, ara a popular
confection party snack. They are used in making many kinds of candies. About
25% of the total groundnut consumed annually are either reasted, and has been
extracted, groundnut are milled into fin flour for barking (Earthington etal
2007).
The flour is an excellent source of
good quality protein. It is frequently mixed with wheat flour and used for
bread and other baking product, as well as in beverages. Groundnut contains 50%
protein, and is widely used in concentrate livestock feeds. Groundnut lay
contains about 7% protein (Onwueme and Sinla, 2002).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Groundnut production in Ishiagu is
not encouragable because of the challenges facing the farm producers in the
area even with the level of the improved technologic which include farm
mechanization, modern groundnut is one of the important legumes but, its
productions is being neglected due to some constraints facing the farmer in the
farmer in the study area such as:
a. Inadequate
rainfall and late planting of crops.
b. Low
fertility of the soil as a result of nutrient up take by plants and this can be
caused by constant farming on the land, leading and conservation management
practices.
c. High
use of inorganic fertilizer on the soil degrades the soil. This can cause further
acidification such as necessities of adding organic manure for proper
improvement of these soil properties.
d. How
to identify the varieties of groundnut seed in the market and how to select the
good variety hence the verities that are free from quarantine test which can
germinate and nature very early.
e. Pest
and disease attack affect groundnut yield.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The broad objective of the study is to evaluate the
appropriate level of organic manure (poultry dropping) and optimum utilization
of poultry manure in groundnut production and yield.
The specific objective includes:
i.
To evaluate the three levels of poultry dropping
production of groundnut.
ii.
To determine the rate of organic manure that
would give optimum yield for groundnut production
iii.
To determine the effect of animal manure on the
performance of groundnut.
iv.
To assess the effect of different sources of
animal manure (pig, poultry, green leaves) in the performance and yield of
groundnut.
1.4 Justification of the Study
However, due to economic and
domestic importance of groundnut, there is need to improve the performance of
the crop.
a. In
Nigeria, inorganic fertilizer is not only as care commodity poor farmer are
unable to afford it, due to its cost.
b. Organic
manure is readily available to farmers for improving soil fertility and
invariable crop yield.
c. The
soil available in Ishiagu is acidic because of excessive leading of the soil as
a result of heavy rainfall and bush burning which exposes the soil to strong
rain splash.
The continuous application of organic manure will
help to replenish the soil.
1.5 Scope and Duration of the Study
The experiment was set up at the project site of Federal
College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, Ebonyi State in the 2014 cropping season. This
experiment lasted for four (4) months between July and October, 2014.