International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No. 15, 124-132
124
Research Article
Open Access
Effect of Spent Bleaching Earth and Pig Manure on The Yield and Nitrogen
Utilization of Maize (Zea mays L.) in Inland Valley Swamp of Owo, South
Western Nigeria
Aderibigbe A.T.B.
1
, Eleduma A.F.
2
, Oyewumi A.
2
1 Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management Technology, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, P. M. B. 1019, Owo, Ondo-State, Nigeria
2 Department of Agricultural Technology, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, P. M. B. 1019, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria
Corresponding email:
International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No.15 doi:
Received: 23 Apr., 2017
Accepted: 31 May, 2017
Published: 05 Jul., 2017
Copyright ©2017
Aderibigbe et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
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A
deribigbe A.T.B., Eleduma A.F., and Oyewumi A., 2017, Effect of spent bleaching earth and pig manure on the yield and nitrogen utilization of maize (Zea
mays L.) in inland valley swamp of owo, south western Nigeria, International Journal of Horticulture, 7(15): 124-132 (doi:
Abstract
Inland Valley Swamp has agricultural resources which have not been effectively harnessed due to inadequate information on
manure management practices that will enhance productivity. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Spent Bleaching
Earth (SBE) and Pig Manure (PM) application on maize and its nitrogen utilization in Inland Valley Swamp (IVS) of Owo, South
Western Nigeria. Pig Manure was applied at four target levels of 0, 2.5, 5 and 10 tons per hectare with two levels of 0 and 5 tons per
hectare of SBE during the dry season of 2013/2014. The experiment was repeated in 2014/2015 dry season by using four levels of SBE
(0, 5, 7.5 and 10 tons per hectare) with two levels of PM (0 and 10 tons per hectare) on a different plot. In both experiments, soil
moisture was complemented by drip irrigation system. The experiment was a 2 x 4 factorial, arranged in a randomized complete block
design (RCBD) with four replications. Maize yield and leaf nitrogen increased significantly at 10 t/ha-1PM and SBE in both experiments
as compared and 0 tons (control). There was no significant difference in maize yield from plots having 10 tons of Pig Manure and 7.5-10
tons of SBE (P < 0.05) during the second experiment. At the two experiments, maximum yield were attained using PM and SBE.
Combination of PM at 10 tons per hectare and 7.5-10 tons of SBE application rates were found to be important in maize production in
Inland Valley Swamp of South Western Nigeria.
Keywords
Inland valley swamp; Spent bleaching earth; Pig manure; Leaf nitrogen; Yield
1 Introduction
Inland Valley Swamp (Flood Plains/Valley swamps/Fadama) are low lying areas including streams, channels and
streamlets depressions which are waterlogged or flooded in wet season (Turner, 1977). IVS soil can potentially
produce short duration crops like rice, maize and vegetables, at least, twice in a season. This is as a result of
adequate water supply and relatively moist soil which are basic to the attainment of high crop yield. The shallow
water table depths contribute to soil moisture storage via capillary rise, and in addition to high soil fertility,
resulting from organic matter accumulation offers opportunity for dry season farming in inland flood plains. The
agricultural potentials of tropical inland valley swamps or flood plains (Fadama ecosystem) can be harnessed via
the effective management of its fertility.
Sound environmental and economic manure management is important in determining the availability of soil
nutrients for crop utilization, especially in inland valley swamp (IVS) areas. However, there is difficulty in
predicting the amount of nutrients available for plant growth because mineral elements in manure are in both
organic and inorganic forms (Beauchamp and Paul, 1989). It is also important to know that N applied in excess of
that required can contribute to nitrate contamination of ground water (Zebarth et al., 1996) in inland valley swamp
with shallow water table.
Proper manure management is particularly important in Inland Valley Swamp (IVS) of Owo, a humid tropical
rainforest because of the increase in swine farm establishment and poor waste disposal which can lead to high
N-loading rates to agricultural land. A large proportion of manure is advocated for and used in agricultural land to
improve soil fertility and prevent acidity (Awanlemhen and Ojeniyi, 2012) resulting from the use of inorganic
