EFFECTS OF PELLETED AND UNPELLETED COMPOSTED ORGANIC MATERIALS ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF THREE VARIETIES OF CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus L.)

📄 Project Abstract

One of the aboitic challenges facing crop production in the Tropics is the inherent low concentration of essential nutrients in the soil for crop growth and development (Schlecht et al., 2007). Essential nutrients are those nutrients which are required by plants to complete their life cycle such as Nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K) often referred to as primary nutrients, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S) called secondary nutrients and Boron (B), Chlorine (Cl), copper(Cu), manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mb) and Zinc (Zn) called micronutrients (Barker and Pilbeam, 2007). These nutrients can be provided to the soil through the use of fertilizers. Fertilizer can be in organic or inorganic form. The use of inorganic fertilizers has not been helpful as it is associated with increased soil acidity, leaching and nutrient imbalance (Schlecht et al., 2007). According to Ayoola and Makinde (2006) inorganic fertilizers are usually not available and are always rather e...