The effect of tillage methods and rates of wood ash on soil chemical properties and castor bean plant performance was studied in field trial at Abakaliki in three planting seasons. The experiment was a split plot in randomized complete block design with three tillage methods (mound, ridge, flat) and four rates of wood ash (0, 2t, 4 and 6 tha -1 ) replicated three times. Crop start version 7.2 was used to analyze data collected and mean separation was done using least significant difference (LSD) at 5% alpha level. The results of soil pH and available P showed that tillage method (TM) increased the values of the nutrients in 2 nd year, but decreased in the 3 rd year planting. The values of these parameters observed in Ridge method was found to be higher when compared to the values of Mound and Flat except for the result of available P in 1 st and 3 rd year planting periods. The wood ash (WA) amendment was found to change the soil from slightly acidic in 1 st year to alkaline in 2 nd year to slightly acidic in 3 rd year. The control soil remained acidic throughout the three years of study. The available P obtained from Rd6 consistently gave the highest values among the TM and rates of WA. Tillage methods had no effect on leaf area index (LAI) at 50 days after planting (DAP) and 100 DAP in 1 st and 2 nd year planting periods, but had significant effect on the parameters in 3 rd year planting season. Flat showed highest plant height in 1 st and 2 nd years but decreased in the 3 rd year. While the least value in plant height for the 3 years' of study was recorded in Mound. The findings from this study has clearly shown that soil application of wood ash and tillage practices has the potential to cause positive and useful changes in the fertility and productivity status of the soil by improving the soil properties and yield component of castor.

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The effect of compost and earthworm production on soil properties, growth and dry-matter yield of maize in crude oil degraded soil was studied. The treatment consisted of 250 g crude oil degraded soil (DS) and 50 g each of four different compost materials mixed differently with 250 g of degraded soil, and the compost were cassava peels (CP), cassava peels + poultry manure (PC), cassava peels + pig manure (GC) and cassava peels + pig manure + poultry manure (PGC) and 10 pieces of sub-adult earthworms (Eudrilus eugenae) were inoculated to each of the experimental pot after 11 days. The five treatments were replicated four times, data generated were subjected to analysis of variance test and treatment means were separated using least significant difference (LSD0.05). The results of the study indicated significant differences between the treatments in soil and agronomic parameters assessed. The application of compost and earthworm activities increased the plant height, leaf area, and number of leaves at 4 weeks after planting (WAP) and 6 WAP, and dry matter yield of maize. The shoot and root dry matter yield was observed to increase in the order PC > PGC > GC > CP > DS. Earthworm production in this study measured by the number survived and biomass weight showed CP and GC as the best culture for earthworm production in oil degraded soil. The degraded soil (DS) did not record any earthworm survival at harvest. The result of the soil analysis indicated less change in the textural class of the soil, and all the chemical parameters tested were enhanced by the compost and earthworm activities. Based on the results of growth rate and yield components of maize as well as soil chemical properties, the PC and PGC cultures having performed competitively better than the other treatments can be considered useful and adequate with the help of earthworm in reclaiming an oil degraded soil for crop production in a tropical environment like Nigeria.

Wood charcoals were mainly used for smoking of fish, meat and frying of corns and many times dump off as wastes in southeast, Nigeria. Their nutrient recycles and release when used as soil amendment has not been considered and evaluated by farmers in the southeast, Nigeria. This study was therefore carried out to assess the efficiency of wood charcoal technology in improving soil productivity. Influence of wood charcoal from Chlorophera excelsa on soil properties and yield components of maize were evaluated. Four different rates of wood charcoal (6, 4, 2 and 0 tha -1 that received no treatment application) were used. The treatments were laid out in randomised complete block design (RCBD) and treatment means were compared using least significant difference (LSD). The findings from the study showed non-significant (P<0.05) differences in most of the growth and yield components of maize tested. Significant differences were recorded in all the soil properties assessed ) plots was 28.5%. The data generated from both growth and yield component and soil properties showed that the values of parameters tested increased as the rate of wood charcoal applied increased, though this was not consistent in the growth and yield parameters and few cases in soil parameters. In comparison of the four different rates of the wood charcoal applied, 4 tha -1 rate seems to be an ideal than the other rates as it performed competitively better and were able to liberate plant nutrients more than the other rates of wood charcoal though these liberated nutrients were not reflected in most of the growth parameters assessed.

Effect of poultry manure and organic fertilizer (NPK 20:10:10) on the growth and quality of cucumber fruits was studied at the experimental site of the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam campus. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four levels of treatments consisting of 4tha -1 poultry manure (PM), 900 kgha -1 NPK in a ratio of 20:10:10 (NPK), 2 tha -1 poultry manure + 450 kgha -1 NPK fertilizer (PM + NPK) and 0 tha -1 control (CO), where no treatment was applied. Data collected were tested using analysis of variance and significant differences among treatment means were separated using LSD at 0.05 probability level. The results obtained from the study indicated that the numbers of leaves of cucumber increased as weeks after planting (WAP) increased. The highest leaves numbers was observed in the plots treated by PM. The order of leaves increases from 2 to 6 weeks were PM > PM+NPK > NPK > CO. The length of fruits, number of fruits, the quality of marketable fruits and weight of fruits increased proportionately in PM treated plots and were significantly (P=0.05) different among the other treatments except for quality of marketable fruits. The highest value of 171.25cm (length of fruits), 10.75 (number of fruits) and 2.38kgha -1 (weight of fruits) were obtained in PM treated plots. Based on the results obtained it is evident that poultry manure as organic manure and its mixture (PM + NPK) is a good source of soil amendment, since it influenced the growth and yield components of cucumber.