Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, D: Agriculture and Veterinary, Volume 22 Issue 1

Table 2: Proximate analysis of Moringa leaves, Banana peels and Maize stalks Mineral content N P K Moringa leaves 2.56 0.10 1.93 Banana peels 1.736 0.09 7.61 Maize stalks 1.256 0.05 0.99 Maize stalks after fermentation ND 3.75 10.232 Source; field survey 2020, ND; not determined c) Number of maize leaves i. Number of leaves of Maize plant as influenced by fertilizer types in 2020 cropping season Table3 revealed that nutrient application resulted into production of varying number of leaves which are the precursors of grain yield. The finding implies that grain yield and subsequently farmers income can be improved through the application of nutrients in the study area. Among the experimental treatments both on the field and screen house, more number of leaves per plant were recorded under the control treated with 90kg NPK fertilizer but closely followed by treatment B=120N+50P + 40K, followed by treatment A=100N+40P+30K while treatment C=70N+30P+20K had the least number of leaves per plant. Although, the control treated with 90kg NPK fertilizer produced a greater number of leaves it was discovered that there were no significant differences between the number of leaves on the NPK treatment and A&B treatments for each mode of application. ii. Comparison of number of leaves under different methods of fertilizer application and site of the experiment in 2020 cropping season Tables 3&4 showed the number of leaves under different methods of fertilizer application and site of the experiment (i.e., solid vs foliar and field vs screen+) in 2020 cropping season. The analysis revealed that the number of leaves per plant differed significantly (P < 0.05) among the different modes of fertilizer application and the site of the experiment. The number of leaves was higher on the plots treated with solid fertilizer applied one week before planting than foliar application 2 and6 weeks after planting both on the field and in the screen house. This result is similar to Dahiru et al., (2016) in his study on crop growth and mode of nutrients application reported that incorporated fertilizer a week before sowing had superior performance with regards to vegetative traits compare to foliar spray on maize. The significance difference between the two modes of nutrient application was explained by Machado et al., (2011) also had similar finding in their study and explained that organic fertilizer release nutrients slowly and the nutrient might have been washed off by rain even before the nutrients are released and absorbed by plants. Table 3: Number of leaves of Maize/ plant under different treatment, mode of nutrient application and site of the experiment (Field) Mode of Nutrient Application/site Solid on field Spray on field Mean no of leaves in WAP per Treatment A B C D A B C D NOL 2 7.2a 7.3a 7.3a 7.5a 5.50b 5.60b 4.98b-e 6.90a NOL 4 14.60a 14.80a 14.6a 15.0b 11.20b 11.60b 9.92b-e 13.80a NOLL6 23.50a 23.80a 23.12a 23.75a 17.73b 17.62b 15.71b-e 21.85c-e NOL 8 24.33a 24.33a 24.33a 25.00a 18.67b 18.33b 16.53b-e 23.00a Source; Field analysis, 2020 Mean having the same letter across the rows indicate no significant difference using Duncan’s multiple range tests at 5% probability level. Treatments are; A= 100N+40P+30K; B= 120N+50P+40K; C=70N+30P+20K; D=90kg NPK. WAP = weeks after planting Potential of Bio-Organic Mix as an Alternative to Inorganic Fertilizer in Maize Production in Africa © 2022 Global Journals 1 Year 2022 14 Global Journal of Science Frontier Research Volume XXII Issue ersion I VI ( D )