• Login
    View Item 
    •   Repository Home
    • Journal Articles
    • School of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
    • View Item
    •   Repository Home
    • Journal Articles
    • School of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Effect of organic and inorganic phosphorus sources on maize yields in an acid soil in western Kenya

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Effect of organic and inorganic phosphorus sources on maize yields in an acid soil in western Kenya.pdf (294.5Kb)
    Date
    2009-06-20
    Author
    Kisinyo, Peter
    Opala, P. A.
    Okalebo, Æ J. R.
    Othieno, Caleb
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Maize production in western Kenya is commonly limited by P deficiencies and aluminum phytotoxicity. Due to high costs of imported fertilizers and lime, focus is now shifting to solutions that utilize local resources. We tested the effect of three inorganic P sources i.e., triple superphosphate (TSP), Minjingu phosphate rock (MPR) and Busumbu phosphate rock (BPR), each applied in combination with two organic materials (OMs) i.e., farmyard manure (FYM) and Tithonia diversifolia green manure (tithonia), or with urea on soil chemical properties related to soil acidity, P availability and maize yields for three consecutive seasons in western Kenya. The OMs and inorganic P sources were applied to provide 20 and 40 kg P ha-1 respectively in their combination. Where urea was used, the inorganic P sources were applied at 60 kg P ha-1. Maize did not respond to application of TSP, MPR or BPR with urea in the first two seasons. However, after three seasons, maize significantly responded to application of MPR with urea. FYM was more effective than tithonia in increasing the labile inorganic P pools but it gave lower maize yields than tithonia which was more effective in reducing the exchangeable Al. It appears that the ability of an OM to lower the exchangeable Al is more important inincreasing maize yields than its ability to increase P availability. The effectiveness of the inorganic P sources in increasing maize yields followed the order of their effectiveness in increasing available P, i.e., TSP[MPR [BPR, once Al phytotoxicity was reduced by application of tithonia but the difference between TSP and MPR was not significant. The extra maize yield obtained by the additional 40 kg P ha-1 from the inorganic P sources was, however, in most cases not substantial enough to justify their use. Economic considerations may therefore favour the use of tithonia or FYM when applied alone at 20 kg P ha-1 than when combined with any of the inorganic P sources used in this study at a total P rate of 60 kg ha-1.
    URI
    http://repository.rongovarsity.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1806
    Collections
    • School of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Studies [122]

    Rongo University Library copyright © 2019 
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Powered by  Dspace
     

     

    Browse

    All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Rongo University Library copyright © 2019 
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Powered by  Dspace