Abstract
The study was carried out at the Field Experimentation Site, behind New Faculty of Agriculture Building, University of Benin, Ugbowo, Benin City, under Tropical Climatic conditions (Dry Season) with coordinates 6o 24’ 6.9228” N, 5o 37’ 28.9268” E, in Edo State between November, 2023 and February, 2024 to investigate the influence of Urea fertilizer on soil properties, fresh Okra fruit yield, and the relationships between soil properties and yield. The experiment utilized three treatments: control (no fertilizer), 50kg/ha Urea, and 100kg/ha Urea, with four replicates each. The findings indicate that fertilizer application influenced both soil properties and Okra yield, but not in the expected manner. The fertilizer NPKMg 12:12:17:2 was applied basally in the entire 12m x 12m plot at the onset of the project while Urea was applied in split doses at 2WAP and 4WAP. After the application of fertilizer, the soil pH became very strongly acidic across all treatments, organic carbon content was reported to be moderate, the total organic Nitrogen content of the soil was low in all treatments, exchangeable acidity decreased compared to the initial value (1.6). Furthermore, while the control group initially exhibited higher vegetative growth parameters like plant height, and leaf area at earlier stages (2 and 4 weeks after planting), the 100kg/ha and 50kg/ha treatment plots experienced a rise, though minimal at 6WaP. Also, the 100kg/ha Urea treatment ultimately produced the highest fresh fruit yield with a value of 108.66g, compared to the 50kg/ha and control plots which produced 80.25g and 71.77g respectively. Thus, it can be inferred that at increased rate of fertilizer application, there was notable increase in yield of Okra even though other parameters such as number of leaves, plant height and leaf area experienced a decline.
