Abstract:
Field experiments were conducted in 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons at the University of
Education Winneba, Faculty of Agriculture Education, Mampong in the forest-savannah
transitional zone of Ghana. The study was to evaluate the growth and yield response of two
onion varieties to integrated nutrient management in the transional zone of Ghana. The
treatments used were 10 t/ha Cow Dung, 10 t/ha Poultry Manure, 300 Kg/ha NPK, combination
of half rate animal manure and half rate NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer (5 t/ha PM +150 kg/ha NPK;
15:15:15 and 5 t/ha CD +150 kg/ha NPK) and control (without amendment), laid out in a split
plot design with 3 replications. Variety was laid as main plot while nutrient treatments were
assigned to sub-plots. The onion varieties used in the study were Bawku Red and Red Creole.
Application of poultry manure and cow dung and their combination with NPK fertilizer
improved soil physical conditions, particularly aeration, total porosity, water holding capacity
and gravimetric moisture content than the control. Soil bulk density was high in the control
plots while the manure and their combinations reduced the soil bulk density. The sole cow dung
and poultry manure as well as their combinations with NPK significantly increased soil organic
carbon, N, P, K, Ca, and Mg concentrations over the control. Also, the total exchangeable
bases, effective cation exchange capacity and percent base saturations recorded an increase
over the control.
Plant height and number of leaves per plant for the 5 t/ha PM + 150 Kg/ha NPK was
significantly (P<0.05) higher for Bawku Red than the control while the 10 t/ha PM recorded a
significantly higher number of leaves and plant height for Red Creole than the control in 2016
cropping season. The 10 t/ha PM recorded a significantly (P<0.05) greater number of leaves
Description:
A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF
CROPS AND SOIL SCIENCES, FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE EDUCATION
SUBMITTED TO
THE SCHOOL OF RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES,
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF
MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (M.PHIL) IN AGRONOMY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA
MAY , 2019