PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF TWO FORAGE COWPEA VARIETIES AS INFLUENCED BY IRRIGATION INTERVALS AND PHOSPHORUS APPLICATION RATES IN ZARIA-NIGERIA

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the profitability of production of two forage cowpea varieties (Sampea 14 and 15) under varying irrigation intervals and phosphorus (P) application rates in Zaria-Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a 2×3×3 factorial arrangement in a split plot design with three replicates. The treatments consist of combinations of two cowpea varieties, three irrigation intervals and three P levels, respectively. Results revealed that an operating profit margin analysis (OPMA) of 0.6% per 100kg bag of cowpea grains was realized for the two cowpea varieties across all the treatment combinations. An OPMA of 2.17% was realized for the forage of the two cowpea varieties across the treatment combinations except for Sampea 14 harvested from the use of irrigation interval of 5 and 10 days in combination with 20 and 40 kg P/h and Sampea 15 harvested from the use of irrigation interval of 15 days in combination with 40 kg P/ha. The highest OPMA (2.68%) was realized with Sampea 14 harvested from the use of irrigation interval of 5 days in combination with 20 kg P/ha, followed by Sampea 14 (1.30% OPMA) harvested from the use of irrigation interval of 10 days in combination with 40 kg P/ha while Sampea 15 harvested from the use of irrigation interval of 15 days in combination with 40 kg P/ha recorded the least OPMA (0.73%). Therefore, it was concluded that irrigation interval of 10 days in combination with 20 kg P/h could increase forage yield of Sampea 14 by more than 200% and grain yield of the two cowpea varieties by 60%. This will help to better the living standard of farmers under smallholder crop-livestock production system in Nigeria.