Bulking and Yield of Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) Following Application of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers

Abstract

The research was conducted at Namong Senior High Technical School in the Offinso Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to determine bulking and yield of cassava following application of organic and inorganic fertilizer. The experimental design for the research was a 2 x 6 factorial arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments comprised two levels of variety (Bankyehemaa and Nkabom) and six levels of fertilizer types (F1: Control -No fertilizer application, F2: 600 kg/ha NPK 15:15:15, F3: 600kg/ha NPK 23:10:10, F4: 2t/ha poultry manure (PM), F5: 1t/ha PM + 300kg/ha NPK 15:15:15 and F6: 1t/ha PM + 300kg/ha NPK 23:10:10). Normal husbandry practices including refilling, application of fertilizer, control of pests and diseases and weeding were undertaken. The results of the study showed that yield and yield components, except tuber length were significantly affected by variety with Bankyehemaa variety producing greater effect in most of the yield parameters. The combined application of poultry manure and NPK 23:10:10 treatment significantly produced the greatest fresh tuber yield and was superior in all yield attributes, except tuber girth which was maximized by NPK 15:15:15 alone treatment. It was concluded that the fertilizer-applied treatments produced greater yield and yield components over the control treatment, while Bankyehemaa variety marginally outperformed the Nkabom variety in terms of tuber yield. It is recommended that in future research, treatments should be modified to study varietal responses to treatment application. Treatment modification should include application of different rates of NPK fertilizer at different times.