Effects Of Fertilizer Npk (20:10:10), Urea And Poultry Manure On The Growth, Development And Yield Of Two Varieties Of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) WalP)

ABSTRACT

A field trial was carried out on the analysis of effects of three sources of plant nutrition NPK (20:10:10) (Ti), Urea (T2), Poultry Manure (T3) and zero treatment (control) (TO), on two cowpea varieties: Vi — IT9Ok - 277.2 and V2 IAR -48 in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Eastern Farm. The seeds of the two cowpea varieties were planted on a manually prepared seed bed ta spacing distance of 60cm between rows and 30cm between plants. The quantity of each of the treatments applied to the test plants are as follows — NPK (20:10:10) (Ti)-lig, Urea (T2) -hg and poultry manure (T3) -100g. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used for the study. Data on the growth and yield parameters were collected on a weekly basis two weeks after application of treatments. Analysis of variance at P< 0.05 was used to analyse the data and the means separated using Lest significant Difference (LSD). Analysis of variance revealed that there were significant differences in plant heights as influenced by the treatment and variety effects whereas those of root length, collar diameter, number of internode, leaf area, number of pods and pod length were not significant. Poultry manure (T3) appeared to increase the growth of the crop more than NPK (Ti) and Urea (T2) whereas variety one showed better performance than variety two.