Effect of Organic Manure on Production Performance and Nutritive Values of Napier Cultivars in Coastal Soil

Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the effect of organic manure on production performance and nutritive values of Napier Cultivars (Pennisetum purpureum) in coastal soil. The experiment employed factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) involving two factors e.g. Factor A (V₁= BLRI Napier-4 and V₂=  Red Napier) and Factor B manure (T₀ as control with no manure, T₁ with 100% cow dung, T₂ with 100% poultry manure, and T₃ with 100% sheep manure). The results showed significant difference (p<0.05) with application of cow dung (T₁) in case of growth parameters of Napier grass-4 at 130 DAP, as evidenced by increased tiller number, plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, leaf length, and biomass production compared to the control group (T₀). At 130 DAP, BLRI Napier-4 treated with cow dung (T₁) exhibited a substantial increase in tiller number, reaching (13.66) compared to the control group (T₀) with (7.76). Significant effects were found on plant height (p<0.05), stem diameter (p˂0.05) and highly significant effects were found on leaf length (p˂0.01) and biomass (p<0.01) at 130 DAP. Cow dung (T₁) and sheep manure (T₃) had showed the highest biomass yield of 42.86 t ha^-1 for BLRI Napier-4 at 130 DAP. In case of both the Red Napier and BLRI Napier-4 grasses nutritional compositions of stem showed no significant (p˃0.05) effect on DM, CF, CP and ash content at 130 DAP. Specifically, the fat content of the grass under poultry manure (T₂) substantially increased to 1.78% compared with other treatments. This research showed that highest biomass production (42.86 t ha^-1) was found in BLRI Napier-4 at 130 DAP with 100% cow dung and the highest value of CF% and EE% were obtained at 130 DAP with application of poultry manure (T₂) at stem of BLRI Napier-4 in coastal soil. Keywords: Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum), Red Napier, Organic fertilizer, Agronomical character, Proximate composition.

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