Tillage and Residual Effect of Some Organic Amendments on Aggregate Associated Soil Carbon of an Ultisol, Growth and Yield of Maize and Cowpea Intercrop
1 Department. of Soil Science & Land Resources Management, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
2 Department of Soil Science, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
3 Department. of Soil Science Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria
* Corresponding author: ao.onunwa@unizik.edu.ng
2 Department of Soil Science, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
3 Department. of Soil Science Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria
* Corresponding author: ao.onunwa@unizik.edu.ng
Abstract
associated soil carbon (C WSA) and yield of maize and cowpea intercrop in an Ultisol,
Southeastern Nigeria. A land area of 0.1125 ha was planted to sole cowpea, sole maize
and maize-cowpea intercrop using minimum tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT)
with poultry droppings (PD), pig waste (PW), and Cassava peels (CP) as amendments at
the rates of 20, 90, 100 t/ha respectively and a control. The experimental design was a split-split plot in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The
same crops, treatments, and replications were maintained for two experimental years
(2011 and 2012), after that the residual effect of the amendments on aggregate-associated
soil carbon (C WSA) and yield of the test crops was investigated in 2013. Consecutive ap
plication of organic amendments for the two years necessitated great improvement on
aggregate-associated soil carbon (C WSA) for aggregate sizes > 0.25mm. However, when
the amendments were withdrawn, there was a reduction in C WSA values though still signif
icant except for aggregate sizes 1-0.5mm. Pig waste was observed to perform better than
all the other amendments followed by Poultry Droppings in aggregating the soil. Tillage
had a significant effect on C WSA for aggregate sizes >0.05mm, CT performed better than
NT. Organic amendments significantly influenced cowpea and Maize both as sole and
intercrop, however, it was observed that the intercrop had a tremendous improvement at
the residual compared to the previous years.
Keywords
same crops
treatments
and replications were maintained for two experimental years
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How to Cite
A.O., O., C.A, I., & A, M. O. (2018). Tillage and Residual Effect of Some Organic Amendments on Aggregate Associated Soil Carbon of an Ultisol, Growth and Yield of Maize and Cowpea Intercrop. Nigerian Journal of Soil Science, 28(2), 31-41. https://doi.org/10.67042/njss.2018.m4sl6lep
O. A.O., I. C.A, and M. O. A, "Tillage and Residual Effect of Some Organic Amendments on Aggregate Associated Soil Carbon of an Ultisol, Growth and Yield of Maize and Cowpea Intercrop," Nigerian Journal of Soil Science, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 31-41, December 2018. doi: 10.67042/njss.2018.m4sl6lep
