Evaluation of Velvet-Fallow and Compost Amendments on Corchorus (Corchorus olitorus l.) yield and Soil Properties in an Organic Farming System

Summary

Legumes can play an important role in management of nitrogen (N) for vegetable production, especially in tropics where low native fertility is a major constraint to crop production. Thus, this report therefore presents evaluation of the influence of velvet bean-fallow (residual fertility) and compost on the yields of corchorus (Corchorus olitorus), as well as the post-harvest soil fertility quality. Corchorus was used as the test crop. Six treatments IBBW1 (Ibadan brewery waste based grade A), IBBW2 (Ibadan brewery waste based grade B), IBBW1 compost + Velvet residual fertility, IBBW2 compost + Velvet residual fertility, Velvet residual fertility (Sole) and no fertilizer treatment as a control were investigated. The compost was applied at 100 kgN/ha. The experimental design was complete randomized block design replicated four times and means were separated using Duncan multiple range test. The result showed that the fertilizer sources had significant effects on the dry yield of corchorus. The sole velvet fallow resulted into the best dry yield of 7.22 t/ha and treatment IBBW1 + velvet fallow left the soil with better pH, total nitrogen and available phosphorus status. In general, sole velvet plus compost proved better fertilizers in the production of corchorus olitorus. Thus, these treatments could be useful in organic production system for corchorus.