Economics of combining organic and in-organic fertilizers for maize production under two tillage systems in the northern savanna zone of Ghana

2014

English

Soils in the northern savanna zone of Ghana are poor in plant nutrients and are prone to compaction. Some amount of tillage and the application of fertilizers to enhance crop yields are necessary. The performance of maize on two tillage systems (Manual and bullock plough) with the application of different fertilizers was assessed for two years by a field experiment laid in a split-plot design with four replicates. The main plots were manual and bullock plough while the sub-plots were NPK (64 kg N/ha, 15 kg P205/ha and 15 kg K20/ha), 6 tons/ha of animal manure, half the rate of in-organic and half the rate of animal manure and no fertilizer as the control in 2008 and 2009. The results showed that tillage loosened the soil and thus reduced soil bulk density, increased porosity and could have enhanced the availability of water and nutrients for better crop growth. The results further revealed that the application of animal manure alone increased maize yields in the second year by 57% as compared to 25% and 35% for the recommended fertilizer rates and half the rates respectively. However, maize yields from the recommended fertilizer rates and the half rates of both in-organic fertilizers and animal manure in each year were similar but significantly (p<0.05) higher than the manure and the control treatment plots. The application of recommended in-organic fertilizers rates gave yields which were similar to yields obtained from half rates of the in-organic and animal manure but for sustainability, the combination of both could be recommended to farmers for adoption. Comparably, the net benefit-cost ratios of both tillage systems are more than 1 indicating that maize production on each of them is profitable; however the bullock tillage system is a better option as it had higher net benefit-cost ratios in each year than the manual system.

Bidzakin, J. K.; Kombiok, J. M.; Buah, S. S. J.; Sogbedji, J. M.