Nutrient mining is one of the major threats facing crop production in Africa and inputs of nutrients are required to overcome this constraint. Greenhouse and field trials were conducted to investigate the effect of so...Nutrient mining is one of the major threats facing crop production in Africa and inputs of nutrients are required to overcome this constraint. Greenhouse and field trials were conducted to investigate the effect of sole and combined applications of neem-based and conventional compound （NPK 15-15-15） fertilizers on five crops. In another set of treatments, a factorial combination of the neem fertilizer and urea at 30, 60 and 90 kg N ha-1 was applied to maize, millet and sorghum in the field in a randomized complete block design. The results obtained on cowpea and soybean showed that application of 20 kg N hal from the neem-based compound fertilizer produced both grain and haulm yields that were comparable to what was obtained with the application of 30 kg N ha1 from the conventional fertilizer. Based on maize performance, combined application of neem-based and NPK in ratio 0.25：0.75 respectively gave significantly （P 〈 0.01） higher plant height, stem girth, shoot and dry weight compared to other treatment combinations. The causes of the interactions between the two fertilizer sources resulting in added benefits from their mixed rather than sole application could be attributed to improvement in phosphorus availability and other soil conditions.展开更多
文摘Nutrient mining is one of the major threats facing crop production in Africa and inputs of nutrients are required to overcome this constraint. Greenhouse and field trials were conducted to investigate the effect of sole and combined applications of neem-based and conventional compound （NPK 15-15-15） fertilizers on five crops. In another set of treatments, a factorial combination of the neem fertilizer and urea at 30, 60 and 90 kg N ha-1 was applied to maize, millet and sorghum in the field in a randomized complete block design. The results obtained on cowpea and soybean showed that application of 20 kg N hal from the neem-based compound fertilizer produced both grain and haulm yields that were comparable to what was obtained with the application of 30 kg N ha1 from the conventional fertilizer. Based on maize performance, combined application of neem-based and NPK in ratio 0.25：0.75 respectively gave significantly （P 〈 0.01） higher plant height, stem girth, shoot and dry weight compared to other treatment combinations. The causes of the interactions between the two fertilizer sources resulting in added benefits from their mixed rather than sole application could be attributed to improvement in phosphorus availability and other soil conditions.
