Organic Amendment and Soil Type Effects on Dry Matter Accumulation, Grain Yield, and Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Rice

ABSTRACT

Research to improve and encourage the use of organic materials for lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) production in the West African sub-region has received little attention. Experiments were conducted during two seasons in 2002 in Kumasi, Ghana, to evaluate the response of rice to a range of organic materials in three lowland soils classified as Eutric Vertisol, Eutric Fluvisol, and Haplic Gleysol. The organic materials were humified sludge, poultry manure, and cattle manure. Organic amendments to all the soils improved grain yield. The best grain yield (71.5 g pot^{− 1}) was recorded in the second season in Vertisol amended with humified sludge. Grain weight was not much affected by soil type, but organic amendment influenced it to some extent. Uptake of nitrogen (N) was enhanced significantly by nutrient amendments, with humified sludge and poultry manure superior to cattle manure during the second season. Soil type and nutrient amendment had little effect on both physiological N use efficiency (PNUE) and nitrogen harvest index (NHI). Among the soil types, the highest N uptake was observed in Gleysol during the first season. Agronomic N use efficiency (ANUE) followed the order Vertisol > Gleysol > Fluvisol in the second season. The observed differences in N uptake and ANUE may be due partly to differences in native N fertility of the soils used for the experiment.

Keywords:

• West Africa
• organic amendment
• humified sludge
• physiological nitrogen
• use efficiency
• nitrogen harvest index
• agronomic Nuse efficiency
• EutricVertisol
• Eutric Fluvisol
• Haplic Gleysol

Notes

*Significant at 0.05 level.

**Significant at 0.01 level.

*Significant at 0.05 level.

**Significant at 0.01 level.

*Significant at 0.05.

**Significant at 0.01.