Influence of Zinc Fertilizer, Poultry Manure and Application Levels on the Performance of Sweet Corn

This study evaluated the effect of chicken manure, CM (0.02% Zn, 2.30% N, 0.55% P and 0.47% k), zinc sulphate, ZnSO (23% Zn) and their organo-mineral combination (CM+ZnSO ) on the performance of sweet corn (Zea mays, L. Saccharum). Two soils medium acid sandy clay Alfisol from the Southern Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zone of Nigeria and a weakly acid sand Alfisol from the Rainforest zone were used. The fertilizer materials were applied at 0, 20 and 40 mg Zn/kg soil to give nine treatment combinations replicated three times in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) for each soil. Plant height, stem girth and leaf area) were measured after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of growth while shoot weight as well as P and Zn concentration and uptake by the crop were determined after 28 days. With application of 40 mg Zn/kg soil on the medium acid Alfisol, CM+ZnSO produced the highest plant shoot biomass (7.7 g/pot) while CM gave the highest (11.0 g/pot) on 4 the weakly acid Alfisol. The application of CM also led to the highest Zn uptake.