Evaluation of productivity and rates of application of poultry manure for remediation of kerosene oil contaminated soil in Abakaliki, Southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

This experiment was carried out in order to evaluate productivity and rates of poultry manure used to amend kerosene oil contaminated soil on 0.18 ha of land. The land area was contaminated with 5% of kerosene oil equivalent to 50,000 mgkg-1 and thereafter the field laid out using randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four treatments of 10, 20, 30 tha-1 of poultry manure and control which were replicated five times. Maize hybrid (Oba super II) variety was used as an evaluation crop. Results showed except for bulk density, poultry manure amended at 30 tha-1 was significantly (P<0.05) higher by 57, 10 and 56% in total porosity, aggregate stability and gravimetric moisture content (GMC) compared to control. Eventhough, there was no significant (P<0.05) treatment effect of poultry manure  amendment on chemical properties of studied soil properties except for sodium, Organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, CEC and base saturation were respectively higher by 33, 17, 37, 27 and 24% in plot amended with 30 tha-1 of poultry manure than when compared to control. Plant height and grain yields of maize followed the trend obtained in improvements of physicochemical properties of soil as reflected by amendments but significant (P<0.05) tallest maize plant and grain yield of maize were obtained in plot amended with 30tha-1 of poultry manure compared to control. Rate of poultry manure is necessary for sustainable productivity of kerosene oil contaminated soil.   Key words: Kerosene oil, maize yield, poultry droppings, productivity, remediation.