POTENTIALS OF GROUNDNUT SHELL AS SOIL ORGANIC AMENDMENT MATERIAL FOR MAIZE

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out at the University of Benin Soil Science and Land Management screen house, Faculty of Agriculture, Benin City to examine the effect of groundnut shell as organic amendment material in the growth of maize (zea mays. L) as well as its effects on the physical, chemical and microbial properties of the soil. The experiment had four treatments; T₁(Control), T₂(12g), T₃(15g and, T⁴ (18g) of blended groundnut shell and were replicated thrice. The parameters measured from the maize plant were; plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and stem girth. After 8 weeks of investigation, the experiment was terminated and soil samples were obtained from the rhizosphere of the maize plant and analysed for physical, chemical and microbial properties. Results obtained from the experiment shows that the application of blended groundnut shell increased the growth rate of the maize plant. The plant height at week 8 for T₁(control) was the lowest (67.50cm), while the others with blended groundnut shell were high with T₂(12g) having 86.10cm, T₃(15g) having 73.77cm  and T₄(18g) having  81.80cm, The number of leaves were also influenced by the groundnut shell application with T₂( 12g) and T₄(18g) having the highest numbers of leaves(10) while T₁ (control) and T₃ (15g) had the least numbers of leaves (9) at week 8, The highest stem girth was observed at the T₂ (12g ) treatment while the lowest (8.13 cm) from  T₁(control) at week 8. It was also observed that the bacterial and fungal in the soil increased in population with increase in the treatment applied. From the result of this experiment, blended groundnut shell is an effective and appropriate organic amendment suitable to enhance yield in a small to medium scale production capacity. However, there was decrease in the N content of the maize plant with increase in the treatments, T₁(control) had the highest N (4.14g/kg), while T₂  had 3.56g/kgN,  T₃ had 3.16g/kg and T₄  had the lowest N of 2.47g/kg. while it was 3.56g/kg, 3.16g/kg and 2.47g/kg in T₂, T₃ and T₄ respectively.