A greenhouse experiment to evaluate compost derived from household and market crop wastes (original) (raw)

Urban peasants in Uganda frequently cultivate soils with low intrinsic fertility status (low pH, low organic matter and nutrient contents), which restricts high crop production. A greenhouse study was conducted at Kabanyolo Research Station, Makerere University to evaluate how compost (CO) compares with commercial fertilizers as a soil fertility amendment. The aims included improvement of crop productivity, while reducing environmental pollution with the wastes. The treatments, each of which had two replicates, comprised a control, 5 and 10 t CO ha-1 applied singly or in combination with 40 and 80 kg urea-N ha-1 and 9 and 18 kg triple superphosphate-P (TSP) ha -1. The test crop maize (Zea mays L.) plants were harvested, 39 days after sowing, and dry matter (DM) yields were recorded and analyzed for plant tissue contents of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S). In the single applications, effectiveness measured in terms of average DM yields increased in the ord...

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