DRY MATTER PARTITIONING AND SEED WEIGHT OF CASTOR (Ricinus communis L.) AS INFLUENCED BY VARIETY, NUTRIENT SOURCES AND AGRO-ECOLOGY IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The research was carried out at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University teaching and research farm, Bauchi located in the Northern Guinea Savannah and Bulkachuwa village of Katagum LGA located in Sudan Savannah both in Bauchi state, during the wet seasons of 2016, 2017 and 2018 to study the dry matter partitioning and seed weight of castor (Ricinus communis L.) as influenced by variety, nutrient sources and agro-ecology. The treatments consisted of five nutrient sources (poultry manure, cow dung, chicken feather, municipal waste, mineral fertilizer) and a control and two varieties of castor (Ex-India 1 and 2), these were factorially combined to give 12 treatment and laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The results of the experiment revealed a significant (P≤0.05) difference among the treatments used throughout the study period. The result further indicated that, application of poultry manure, chicken feather and mineral NPK fertilizer produced statistically (P≤0.05) similar results in most of the parameters observed but significantly (P≤0.05) better than cowdung and municipal waste. The control consistently had the lower values for the parameters measured. The results also showed that, variety Ex-India 2 proved to be superior over Ex-India 1 on all the characters observed. Study on location on the other hand, Bauchi was found to be better than Bulkachuwa location throughout the study period. In terms of study season however, crop grown in 2018 performed statistically (P≤0.05) better than those of 2016 and 2017 wet seasons on most of the characters studied. Based on the findings of this study, application of poultry manure or chicken feather at the rate of 2t/ha or mineral NPK fertilizer (at the rate of 100:50:50 kg/ha) to Ex-India 2 can be recommended for farmers in the study area.