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ABSTRACT
This project was carried out at the Soil Science and Land Management Experimental Farm in University of Benin Ugbowo Campus, Benin City. The essence of the study was to determine the residual effect of phosphate solubilizing bacteria previously applied on fields (ultisol) on the growth and yield of maize (Zea mays L). The experiment involved 3 treatments which were replicated 3 times, T1 (Control), T2 (Poultry Manure + Bacillus specie) and T3 (NPK + Bacillus specie). The parameter measured for the maize plant were number of leaves, plant height, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area and stem girth. Result obtained from the experiment showed that there were changes or differences in some of the soil properties and nutrients such as significant difference between T1 and T2 before sowing and after sowing in organic matter and also seen in the organic matter which reduced from T1 (12.9g/kg-1 to 2.88g/kg-1) T2 ( 16.70g/kg-1 to 3.46g/kg-1) and T3 (17.50g/kg-1 to 6.57g/kg-1) before sowing and after sowing respectively. Also in the N level, T3 where NPK was previously applied still maintained the highest level of N from before sowing with 0.94g/kg-1 to 0.72g/kg-1 after sowing respectively. It can also be seen in the available phosphorus before sowing that T3 which earlier contained NPK was the highest with 42.90mg/kg-1 while after sowing it was T2 which contains PM that was added earlier to now be the highest with 17.73mg/kg-1 which is very feasible as PM and the associated manure are higher in nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus and are also rich in organic matter. OM is known to have longer lasting effect in the soil than inorganic fertilizer. In T2 also (PM + Bacillus specie), it was observed and recorded to have the highest number of leaves from week 2 to week 8 and also had the highest plant height. Overall, it was observed that the inculation and amendment of the soil which was previously applied had no effect as the T1 (control) was observed to be the best result.
