Manure and lime amendment effects on soil pH, fertility, microbe population and respiration

Abstract

Soils of the tropical and subtropical climate are intensively weathered, acidic

and have low native fertility. In order to determine the effect of lime and its

combination with either poultry manure or

Tithonia diversifolia on tropical

rainforest soil, top soils were collected from the Teaching and Research Farm

of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (7

â€Â5’ N, long 5â€Â10’ E) in South

West, Nigeria and incubated. Five treatments and a control were established

at Soil:Lime:Manure ratio of 10:1:1, the treatments were; Soil+Lime (S+L),

Soil+Lime+

Tithonia diversifolia (S+L+T), Soil+Lime+Poultry manure (S+L+PM),

Soil+

Tithonia diversifolia (S+T), Soil+Poultry manure (S+PM), and a control S.

The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomised Design (CRD) with

three replicates and soil water maintained at field capacity. Soil samples

were collected for chemical analysis, soil respiration measurement and microbe

count at the 2

nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and10th week. Data collected were subjected

to statistical analysis and the result showed that the application of

Lime, poultry manure and

T. diversifolia and their combinations reduced soil

acidity. The combination of lime with poultry manure or

T. Tithonia diversifolia

improved soil nutrient and microbes count. Lime combined with poultry

manure most favoured rapid multiplication of soil bacteria.

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