Influence of some Organic Manure and NPK 15:15:15 on Selected Physical Properties of Sandy Loam Soil in Mokwa Niger State Nigeria

The result of long time farming and poor soil management and conservation practices at Niger state college of Agriculture Mokwa Commercial farm which is the study area has led to serious soil degradation like nutrient depletion and soil erosion. There is the need for local content research and innovation to ameliorate the problem. This research work described the effect of organic manure and inorganic fertilizer (poultry manure, Cow dung and NPK fertilizer) on some soil physical properties i.e. the infiltration, porosity, bulk density and erodibility on a sandy loam soil of Mokwa North Central Nigeria. Four treatments of poultry, cow dung manure, NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer and non – application were applied in RCBD with 25t/ha of poultry manure and cow dung while NPK 15:15:15 was 150kg/ha and non- application as control replicated three times. Soil physical properties were measured and analyses were done to ascertain the soil aggregates. Ring infiltrometers were constructed and used to test the infiltration rate of the soil at each plot before soil treatments. Measurements were taken at time intervals for all the plots. The plots were then treated with manure and NPK and left for two weeks to decompose, after which infiltration measurements were taken again. Minitab 17 and Excel were used for the analysis. The cow Dung manure shows highest infiltration rate as compared to other treatments. The experiment shows that Cow Dung and poultry manure can be used to correct infiltration and soil physical anomalies especially when soil is compacted or clayey.