Nigerian soils are generally low in fertility and enhanced crop yield is only possible through external use of organic and inorganic fertilizers. The present study was carried out under field condition at Teaching and Research Farms, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu to evaluate effects of compost, cow dung and NPK 15-15-15 fertilizer amendments on the growth and yield performances of Amaranthus hybridus. The obtained results indicated that all treatments significantly achieved an increment in morphological parameters (numbers of leaves stem girth, leaf area and plant height) and fresh weight yield comparing with the control. The best results in terms of these characters were obtained in the following order Cow dung > compost > NPK 15-15-15 and control. Post soil analysis shows that all the treatments reduced the soil pH from 6.20 to a range between 5.58-5.68 and available phosphorus, magnesium, organic carbon, total nitrogen and CEC increased significantly compared with control plot. Results suggest that the use of cow dung and composts has potential to improve the growth and yield of amaranth and improves the soil physiochemical properties in the study area.

The present experiment was carried out during the 2010 planting season, atthe Teaching and Research Farms, School of Agriculture, Lagos State Polytechnic,Ikorodu, Lagos State with the view to produce liquid fertilizer fromwater hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipies) and compare its effectiveness withpoultry manure on the performance and yield of fluted pumpkin (Telfairiaoccidentalis). Data on number of leaves and length of main vine 2 weeksbefore fertilizer application (BFA) and 3, 6 and 9 weeks after fertilizer application (WAFA) and the yield at harvesting were collected and subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and means compared using Least Significance Difference (LSD). The results showed that at 3 WAFA, water hyacinth had the highest number of leaves (245) and longest length main vine (2.04 cm) and in terms of yield at harvesting, water hyacinth (16.08 kg) was not significantly different (P>0.05) compared to poultry manure (18.13 kg) application. From the study it can be concluded that water hyacinth liquid fertilizer can be utilized as good source of organic fertilizer for the growth of fluted pumpkin and thus serve as veritable means of curbing the menace of water hyacinth on our water ways.

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Aim: The experiment was setup in an attempt to determine the effect of redox potentials on soil chemical properties Mat and met: A 3 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment was conducted. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and consisted of three factors namely: Poultry manure at three levels (0 tha-1, 6 tha-1 and 8 tha-1), NPK 15-15-15 at two levels (0 kgha-1 and 200 kgha-1) and watering regimes at two levels (waterlogged and field capacity). These factors were used to induce the various redox status of the soil. The combination of these variables resulted in twelve (12) treatments which were replicated three times and repeated. The soils were incubated for about three months after which data were collected on soil chemical properties. Data collected included total N, available P, exchangeable cations and organic matter content. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS version 17 and means compared using Tukey Honesty Significant Difference (HSD) test to verify significant differences among treatments at 5% probability level. Graphs were generated using Microsoft excel 2010 edition. Result: The results of this research showed that redox potential causes changes in the chemical properties of the soils. There was significant difference (p < 0.05) in the nitrogen content among the treatments and the highest was moderately reduced soils being 62.5% greater than the oxidized soil that recorded the lowest. There was also significant difference (p < 0.05) in the available P which was highest under oxidized soils, being 76.4% greater than the highly reduced soil that recorded the lowest. Organic matter content was highest under highly reduced soil being 42.9% greater than the oxidized soil that recorded the lowest. There were also significant differences (p<0.05) among the treatments in terms of exchangeable cations. Exchangeable cations were lowest in soil under highly reduced conditions. Conclusion: It was concluded that the redox status of a soil is a fundamental property that has the tendency of affecting other soil chemical properties.