World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

RESPONSE OF CUCUMBER (CUCUMIS SATIVUS) PRODUCTION TO POULTRY MANURE APPLICATION IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Wiro K. O.*

ABSTRACT

The experiment on the response of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) to poultry manure application in Rivers State, Nigeria was conducted between May and July, 2019 at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Crop and Soil Science, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), Ndele campus, Rivers State, Nigeria with latitude 4058N and longitude 6048N which is found in the humid rainforest of Nigeria. The quantity of poultry manure used in the experiment were 0,5 and 10 tons per hectare. The experiment was replicated three times and laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The growth characteristics measured in the field were vine length (cm), number of leaves, leaf area (cm2) while yield parameters measured included number of flowers, fruit length(cm), fruit number, fruit diameter. The growth and yield parameters significantly increased in the production of cucumber with the application of higher rate of poultry manure. The application of 10 tons of poultry manure resulted in the highest growth and yield parameters in the experiment. The vine length was 156.93cm, number of leaves was 86.26 and leaf area was 30.53 (growth parameter). Application of 5tons gave rise to 108.86cm, 66.66 and 23.60 for vine length, no. of leaves and leaf area respectively. The poorest performance was recorded in 0 tons application which was the control where the vine length, no of leaves and leaf area were 84.46cm, 62.40 and 15.062 respectively. In yield parameters measured, application of 10 tons of poultry manure also gave significantly higher values followed by the application of 5 tones while application of 0 tons gave the poorest values in the experiment. With this research study, it was recommended to apply 10tons of poultry manure for reasonable production of cucumber in Rivers State. Again, further research that will involve other organic manure rather than poultry manure should be conducted to ascertain their productivity potential on cucumber production.

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