Abstract

Plantain is commonly grown in gardens and small farms where productivity usually declines over time due to soil nutrient depletion. This soil fertility problem could be overcome if the nutrients removed from harvests are replaced with available fertilizers. This study assessed growth, yield, and cost effectiveness of plantain under organic and inorganic fertilization in the humid forest zone of Cameroon. The experiment design was a Complete Randomized Block Design with 5 single and 3 combined treatments of urea and NPK and/or poultry manure or coffee husk or cocoa pod residue.  All the fertilized plantain produced significantly (P=0.001) taller plants with wider stem circumference, more functional leaves, and number of leaves produced than the control. Also, yield charateristics like bunch weight, number of hands per bunch, finger length, circumference and weight were significantly higher (P=0.001) on treated soils than the control, especially soil treated with 12 tons ha-1 of poulty manure. The cost/benefit ratio of the control plots had the least benefit when compared with the other treatments. This study shows that poultry manure is more suitable for small scale plantain farms meanwhile NPK fertilizer for large scale farming.

Key words: Plantain, poultry manure, coffee husk, cocoa pod, bunch yield, cost/benefit ratio.