ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Groundnut also called peanuts, monkey nuts and earths nut is
grown as an oil seed. It is an annual
grain legume crops. It belongs to the
family leguminous. It is a major cash
crop and widely grown in particularly all the tropical and sub-tropical regions
of the world for direct uses as food, for all as well as for the high protein
meal produced after oil extraction, Delonta R.J. (2008). Groundnut originated from latin America. The Portuguese were responsible for its
introduction into were Africa from Brazil in the 16th century as a
sources of vegetables 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 which was over 18.9 million of unshaved nuts in 2001. However, the large producer 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, Gambia and Sudan all
export considerable quantities of the crop.
Nigeria was until 1974 the worlds lending exporter but is how an
importer (Komotate et al, 2007).
Groundnut do well in area of moderate rainfall ranging from 80.130cm 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 protein serves as an excellent supplement to
cereals, with other starch crops that are comparatively high in muthiius and
cystine, but low in lysme and lryptophan.
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 wither in pod or shelled, ara a
popular confection and party snack. They
are used in making many kinds of candies.
About 25% of the total groundnut consumed annually are either roasted,
and has been extracted, groundnut are milled into for flour for barking
(Earthrington et al, 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 technological which include farm mechanization, modern groundnut
is one of the important legumes but, it productions is being neglected due to
some constraint facing 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 uptake by plants and this can be caused by constant farming on the
land, leaching 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 varieties that are
free from quarantine test which can germinate and nature very early.
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 effect of animal manure on the
performance of groundnut
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 leaching 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.