ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted to study the effect of the mixture of cow dung and poultry manure on the growth of Zea mays. This experiment was carried out over a period of 5 weeks. The experiment consisted of one control and four different treatments with the percentage mixture of cow dung and poultry manure being 3%, 6%, 9% and 12% (J, O, S, H and Y) respectively. Each treatment had 3 replicates which amounted to a total of 15 bags. Five (5) seeds were planted in each bag and germination readings were taken for 7 days after which readings for plant height, number of leaves and girth were taken over a period of 4 weeks. At the end of germination study, J, O, S, H and Y recorded 93.33%, 100%, 86.67%, 93.33% and 100% respectively. At the end of the experiment (31DAP), the results gathered for height were recorded as 24.50 ± 1.97, 35.47 ± 2.25, 54.47 ± 4.33, 60.73 ± 6.81 and 43.70 ± 6.50 for J, O, S, H and Y respectively. At the same time, the values recorded for girth were 3.1 ± 0.21, 4.73 ± 0.36, 6.12 ± 0.44, 6.57 ± 0.60 and 7.33 ± 0.33 for J, O, S, H and Y respectively. The number of leaves increased across the gradient with an increase in the percentage concentration of manure until manure treatment H. This indicated an optimum concentration of 12%. From data gathered, it may be safe to conclude from the experiment that the mixture of cow dung and poultry manure had an overall positive effect on the germination of Zea mays as there was a consistent increase in most results with increase in the concentration of manure mixture used as compared to the control.
