Evaluation of Poultry Manure as a Fertility Amendment for Maize Production in a Part of Guinea Savannah Region of Nigeria

The study assessed how poultry manure as a fertility amendment for maize production in a part of guinea savannah region of Nigeria. The study adopted an experimental design. The research used primary sources of data; Four separate farmlands of 5mx5m square parcel located at Kitti Village, in Abuja Municipal Area Council was set up for the study. The farmlands were cultivated to maize plant for the period of three months (90 days) in the dry season ((January 2023 to March 2023), Three weeks after planting, chemical fertilizer was applied to plot B, Plot A was conditioned, thus constitutes the control plot, Plot C was enriched with poultry manure, plot D was conditioned with cow dung manure application plot, 150 liters of water was applied to the poultry plot and control plot per weekly, Two bags of 700 toones of dry poultry manure was applied to the poultry plot and the maize was planted at the depth of 15cm. The experimental plots were cleared before set up and were weed at three weeks interval after planting till point of harvest, Data was subjected to student t-test and one way analysis of variance using SPSS software package 10.1, and mean separation was done using t-test at p<0.05 where significant differences was observed. Findings revealed that highest weight of yield was recorded on poultry manure application plot when it was wet and dry (9.1kg and 7.8kg), while the lowest value was recorded on control plot (2.6kg and 2.2kg). The total highest weight of maize yield (16.9kg) was obtained from treatment with poultry dropping followed by cow dung manure application plot (13.4kg), both of the treatment ranks highest, this is attributed to the essential nutrients embedded in them while they are significantly different from the chemical and control. The finding shows that Poultry manure application plot recorded highest value of Organic carbon (0.511% and 0.452%), organic matter (1.031% and 1.101%), total nitrogen (0.213% and 0.221%), available phosphorus (46.81mg/kg and 49.22mg/kg), potassium (1.031 coml/kg and 1.106 coml/kg), calcium (7.35coml/kg and 7.01coml/kg), magnesium (4.01coml/kg and 3.945coml/kg), sodium (0.103coml/kg and 0.067coml/kg) on top and sub soil, ECEC (11.98 and 10.31) and base saturation (79.41and 61.32). the study revealed that poultry manure is more suitable for maize grain. The study recommended that 20t/ha of poultry manure is adequate for maximum growth and yield of Maize grains.