Effect of poultry manure and urea-n on flowering occurrence and leaf Productivity of <i>amaranthus cruentus</i>

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the dry season (December – March) in 2005 and 2006. To test the effect of poultry manure (PM) and urea - N on flower initiation and leaf yield of Amaranthus cruentus. Plants fertilized with sole poultry manure at 15 tonnes/ha were significantly (p = 0.05) tallest (90.6cm), while application of a mixture of 30 kg urea-N/ha and 15 tones/ha of poultry manure produced the higher number of leaves per plant (81.7), the largest leaf area (203.0 cm2), highest number of branches per plant (16.0), longest vegetative life span (70 days after planting), highest fresh leaf mass (1.88 kg/plot), highest fresh stem mass (2.25kg/plot) and highest fresh lead yield (12.20 tonnes/ha). This is an indication that combined application of 15
tonnes of poultry manure per hectare and 30 kg Urea-N/ha could prolong the vegetative phase thus, enhancing the leaf productivity of Amaranthus cruentus