Response of Extra - Early Maize Variety (zea Mays ) to Different Organic Manures in the Drier Sub - Region of Northern Nigeria

This work was carried out to study effect of different organic manures on yield of maize in the study area. Field trials were carried out in 2008 and 2009 cropping seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Soil Science, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri. The treatments consisted of three organic manures (cow dung, city refuse and poultry droppings) applied at four rates of each organic manure (0.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0tons/ha). The experiment therefore contained twelve treatments laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC), percentage base saturation (PBS), soil organic carbon (SOC), total N, C:N ratio, available P (Bray-1) and exchangeable K were determined before the experiment. There was consistent increase in grain yield with addition of organic manures in 2008, 2009 and in the combined analysis. Poultry manure gave the highest grain yield in 2008 (1486 kg/ha), in 2009 (773.50 kg/ha) and in the combined analysis (1130.1 kg/ha), and the grain yield consistently increased as the application rate was increased. Cow dung also gave significant increase in grain yield and leaf area index of maize. For good crop performance of maize, poultry manure is preferred when applied at 5.0 to 10.0tons/ha.