Department of Soil Science

Assessing the Efficacy of a Recycled Abattoir Wastes Fertilizer (Thallotm) as an Alternative Phosphorus (P) Source on Soil Fertility, Crop Yield and N-Fixation in Low Nutrient Tropical Soils in Two Agro Ecological Zones of Ghana

2024-11-20T14:40:58Z

Assessing the Efficacy of a Recycled Abattoir Wastes Fertilizer (Thallotm) as an Alternative Phosphorus (P) Source on Soil Fertility, Crop Yield and N-Fixation in Low Nutrient Tropical Soils in Two Agro Ecological Zones of Ghana Iddriss, Abdul Razak Mensah Inorganic fertilizer application has successfully improved crop yields in Ghana, but they are often expensive and not readily available to smallholder farmers and has been reported to induce soil acidity, greenhouse gases emission and eutrophicaton. This study examined the effect of Thallo (a novel multi-element fertilizer produced from abattoir wastes by Elemental Digest, UK.) on soil pH, OC, total N, available P and exchangeable K contents, crop N, P, and K uptakes and use efficiencies, as well as the growth, yield, and nutritional quality of maize, cabbage, cowpea, and sweet potato across Semi Deciduous forest and Coastal Savannah agro ecological zones of Ghana. The study comprised three treatments namely recycled abattoir waste fertilizer (Thallo), conventional NPK and control with four replications laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The result showed that Thallo improved significantly (P<0.05) soil pH, organic matter content, total nitrogen, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium in both experimental sites compared with the NPK treated soil. Also, relative to the conventional NPK treatments, Thallo increased maize grain yield by 13.5% (Jukwa) and 18% (UCC), cabbage head yield by 13% (Jukwa) and 23% (UCC) for the two zones respectively, cowpea seed yield (109%) and sweet potato tuber yield (72%) at coastal savannah. Thallo increased crop N, P and K uptakes and their use efficiencies by all the crops in both agroecological zones. In conclusion, the application of Thallo improved soil fertility, increased crop yield, crop N, P and K uptake and use efficiency by all crops under field conditions. Coastal Savannah zone recorded higher yields than the Semi Deciduous forest. xxiii, 245p,; ill.

Effect of Compost and Biochar on Soil Fertility and Cabbage Yield.

2024-02-27T09:55:15Z

Effect of Compost and Biochar on Soil Fertility and Cabbage Yield. Abbey, Charlotte ABSTRACT Soil fertility decline remains the major biophysical constraint to low crop productivity on farmlands. Even though inorganic fertilizers play significant role in increasing crop production, they are not a sustainable solution in maintaining high crop yields as it gradually deteriorates soil physico-chemical properties which subsequently reduce crop yield. Both pot and field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of combined application of compost and biochar on soil pH, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, nutrient use and efficiency, total organic carbon, bulk density, field capacity, hydraulic conductivity as well as the yield of cabbage (test crop). A completely randomised design and randomised complete block design were used for pot and field experiments respectively with 3 cabbage varieties for the pot and 2 cabbage varieties for the field. Total microbial count in log/cfu was determined using the total plate count. Five treatments were evaluated, sole biochar (B), sole compost (C), compost + biochar (CB), NPK fertilizer (NPK) and control (no application). There was no significant difference among the treatments in all the soil parameters measured for pot experiment except the pH for NPK which was lower (5.83) compared to B (6.58), C (6.47) and CB (6.51). In the field experiment, B and CB increased total organic carbon (1.21% and 1.54% respectively). The C and CB increased the crop yield, soil total N and soil available P concentrations. Application B also increased soil microbial population. A combination of compost and biochar can therefore be used as a soil amendment to increase yield and improve soil physico-chemical properties under field conditions. ii,ill:98

Ameliorating Compaction in a Ghanaian Coastal Savanna Acrisol with Compost

2022-01-24T14:58:33Z

Ameliorating Compaction in a Ghanaian Coastal Savanna Acrisol with Compost Wuaku, Sadata Soil compaction has deletenous effects on crop production by preventing soil to realize its full productive potentials even if crop residue is applied. The study sought to evaluate the efficiency of using compost to ameliorate soil compaction. A research was carried out during the major and minor season of 2019 at the Teaching and Research Farm of the School of Agriculture University of Cape Coast, in the Central Region of Ghana. The experiments were arranged in a randomized complete Block design (RCBD) with four replications. The four different levels of compaction that were imposed were NTP, 3 mild, moderate and high they were used to assess the effect of compaction on the growth of plant. The different types of compost used were maize compost (MC), cassava compost (CC) and pineapple compost (PC). The composts treatments were the sub-plots whilst the main plots were the various forms of soil compaction imposed. Composts were replicated 4 times in each block. In total, there were 48 sub-plots (4 main blocks 3 plots 4 replications). The physical (porosity, bulk density, HC and moisture content) and chemical (pH, CEC, OC, Tot.N and Avai.P) properties of the soil were measured and data collected was subjected to analysis of variance using GenStat Statistical package (12th Edition). Data gathered from the various blocks indicate that regardless of the level of soil compaction, maize compost alleviated soil compaction compared to other composts. In addition, maize compost resulted in the highest grain yield. xi, 121p:, ill.

Prevalence of Mealybug Wilt Disease of Pineapple and the Associated Viruses

2022-01-10T15:37:10Z

Prevalence of Mealybug Wilt Disease of Pineapple and the Associated Viruses Nyarko, Joseph The study assessed the awareness of mealybug wilt of pineapple (MWP) farmers and their disease management practices in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA), Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese (AAK), and Ekumfi districts in the Central Region of Ghana. The study also surveyed the incidence and severity of the MWP disease in pineapple fields across the three districts in 2018. Household data were collected using structured questionnaire from 180 respondents and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Incidence and severity scores of MWP disease were determined from twenty (20) pineapple farms selected from each of the three districts. The field data was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the means separated with least significant difference (LSD) method at P<0.05. The majority of the farmers (88.9%) had knowledge on the existence of the disease in their farms and its effect on yield. Majority of farmers used their own planting materials (59.4%), practice monocropping (67.8%), do not apply any fertilizer (78.9%), do not manage the disease on their farms (58.4%), fallow plots (63.9%) and mother plots (55.6%). Incidence of MWP disease differed significantly between pre- and post-induction growth stages and among the three districts (p<0.05), ranging from 2.20±0.46 to 9.45± 1.10%. Soil fertility status of the farms was inherently low. Five qRT-PCR assays with pineapple mealybug wilt associated virus (PMWaVs) species specific primers successfully detected five species of PMWaVs, namely PMWaV-1, PMWaV-2, PMWaV-3, PMWaV-4 and PMWaV-5, with abundance of mixed infections. Phylogenetic analyses with 15 sequenced isolates from the study and some published sequences from GenBank, confirmed the presence of PMWaV-1, -2 and -3 in the Central region. xvi, 142p:, ill.