EFFECTS OF INORGANIC FERTILIZER APPLICATION METHODS ON CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MAIZE LEAVES AS FODDER FOR LIVESTOCK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.vi.7274Keywords:
Maize leaves, Chemical composition, Side placement, Foliar, FertilizerAbstract
Fodder production requires nutrients for its tissue and cell developments, however its productivity is hampered by low nitrogen contents in the soil. Inorganic fertilizers are becoming expensive daily and beyond the reach of many livestock farmers that use maize leaves as fodder for their livestock. Foliar method of fertilizer application is expected to use less quantity of inorganic fertilizers compared to placement method, however, its effect on chemical composition needs to be investigated. This experiment was therefore conducted to determine the effect of method of fertilization on chemical
composition of maize leaves as feed for livestock. The experiment consisted of four treatments, Treatment 1 (T1) was the application of inorganic fertilizer using side placement while Treatments 2 (T2), 3 (T3) and 4 (T4) were 20%, 40% and 60%, respectively of total amount of fertilizer applied in T1 using foliar method of application. The treatments were replicated three times making the total of 12 experimental units. The experimental design adopted was Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD. The maize leaves were then analyzed for organic matter (OM), dry matter (DM), ASH, acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), and crude protein (CP). The result revealed that, there was significant (p≤0.05) effect of method fertilization on the chemical composition of maize leaves (DM= 94.32-95.40%), (OM= 90.83-94.73%), (ADF= 25.15- 29.04%), (NDF= 19.05-31.72%,), (ADL= 3.10-4.33%), and (CP= (7.41-10.29%).It was concluded that application of fertilizer using foliar method at the rate of 100kg/ha NPK 20:10:10 and 50kg/ha
urea could reduce rate of leaching and cost of maize production as forage for livestock.