Effect of palm oil mill effluent and Npk 15:15:15 fertilizers on the growth and yield of soya bean

Abstract

A field study was carried out in the rainforest ecological zone of Nigeria. Organic (Palm oil mill effluent) and inorganic fertilizers on the growth and yield of soyabean (Glycine max L). The treatments used were on inorganic fertilizer NPK 15:15:15 and palm oil mill effluent (POME). The parameters evaluated were plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, leaf area, number of pods weight of pods, number of branches, leaf area, number of pods, weight of pods, weight of grains, grain yield in Kg/ha and shelling percentage. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in three replicates with six treatments viz 0, 100, 200 and 300 kg/ha NPK and 5 and 10 t/ha of POME. Results showed that soyabean responded to POME at 5 and 10t/ha. NPK fertilization at 200kg/ha also resulted in significant increase in crop productivity increasing grain yield from 1416 to 3213.33kg/ha in one instance. Further more, inorganic fertilizer application resulted in higher vegetatative growth than POME. These results are important to farmers with access to under utilized inorganic fertilizer as a means of reducing nutrient depletion of soils. © 2010, American Eurasian Network for Scientific Information.