Abstract

This study investigated the direct and residual effects of different poultry compost and NPK fertilizer applications on the growth components of drought-tolerant maize (Zea mays L.) in a derived savanna agroecology of southwestern Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with six treatments, each replicated thrice. The treatments which were applied at planting, consisted of 100% cockerel manure (CM), 100% broiler manure (BM), 100% layers manure (LM), 33.3% cockerel manure + 33.3% Broiler manure + 33.3% Layers manure (CBLM) at 4.50 kg plot^-1_,inorganic NPK 20-20-10 fertilizer at 0.30 kg plot^-1 and zero manure application as control (CT). The apparent efficiency of N recovery (AENR), N and P ear-leaf (NPEL) contents of maize with poultry manures were higher when compared to inorganic NPK fertilizer applications. The highest mean grain yield 1.30 t ha^-1 of maize was obtained with BM treatment that had the highest AENR and NPEL values. This however, was not significantly (p > 0.05) different from the mean grain yield obtained with other treatments during the dry season. Comparable but higher mean grain yield, but also not significantly (p > 0.05) different were obtained during the wet season in all the treatments.

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