Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on nodulation of some selected grain legumes at Bauchi, Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria
Paper Details
Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on nodulation of some selected grain legumes at Bauchi, Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria
Abstract
Nodules were collected at bi weekly intervals from legumes grown in three rainy seasons in Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria. The legumes include cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp), groundnut (Arachis hypogea (L.)) and soybean (Glycine max (L.)) treated with nitrogen fertilizer at 0 and 20kgN/ha and phosphorus fertilizer at 0, 13.2, 26.4 and 39.6kgP/ha. The treatments were laid out in a split-split plot design and replicated three times. The legumes were randomly allocated to the main plot, the phosphorus fertilizer levels to the sub plot and the nitrogen level to the sub-sub plot. The results showed that application of nitrogen at 20kgN/ha significantly (P≤0.05) reduced number of nodules at 2week after sowing (WAS) only. On the other hand, application of phosphorus at 26.4kgP/ha significantly (P≤0.05) produced higher number of nodules throughout the study period than the other levels used. Amongst the legumes, groundnut consistently and significantly (P≤0.05) gave higher number of nodules than cowpea and soybean. The cropping season of 2005 significantly (P≤0.05) produced higher number of nodules than 2004 and 2006 rainy seasons.
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A.A. Amba, E.B. Agbo, A. Garba, 2013. Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on nodulation of some selected grain legumes at Bauchi, Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria. Int. J. Biosci., 3(10), 1-7.
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