African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6863

Full Length Research Paper

Agronomic effectiveness of water hyacinth-based composts

Dennis Beesigamukama
  • Dennis Beesigamukama
  • Department of Crop Production and Management, Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Busitema University, P. O. Box 203, Soroti, Uganda.
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Alice Amoding-Katusabe
  • Alice Amoding-Katusabe
  • Department of Agricultural Production, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
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John Baptist Tumuhairwe
  • John Baptist Tumuhairwe
  • Department of Agricultural Production, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
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John Muoma
  • John Muoma
  • Department of Biological Sciences, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Kakamega, Kenya.
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John M. Maingi
  • John M. Maingi
  • Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Omwoyo Ombori
  • Omwoyo Ombori
  • Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Josephine Nakanwagi
  • Josephine Nakanwagi
  • Department of Agricultural Production, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
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Dative Mukaminega
  • Dative Mukaminega
  • Faculty of Applied Sciences, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Kigali, Rwanda.
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  •  Received: 06 August 2018
  •  Accepted: 05 September 2018
  •  Published: 27 September 2018

Abstract

Because water hyacinth-based compost contains substantial amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) its application can boost crop production. We evaluated the agronomic performance of water hyacinth - based composts using field experiments and five treatments which were; water hyacinth compost made using cattle manure (WH+CM), poultry manure (WH+PM), molasses (WH+MO), water hyacinth alone (WH alone) and the control. The composts were applied at two rates of 3 and 6 t ha-1 using maize (LONGE 4) as a test crop. Grain yields of 6.8 t ha-1 harvested in WH+CM applied at 6 t ha-1 and 6.5 t ha-1 harvested in WH+PM applied at 3 t ha-1 were statistically similar, and were the highest in the experiment. The highest harvest index and agronomic nitrogen efficiency were obtained at 3 t ha-1 from WH+PM (4.57) and WH+MO (42.6 kg kg-1) respectively. Compost formulation WH+PM applied at 3 t ha-1 was the most effective as measured in terms of grain yield and is recommended for application by farmers for good yields of maize crop.

Key words: Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, water hyacinth-based composts, effective application rate, maize grain yield.

 

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This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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