Growth and yield performances of three maize varieites as influenced by poultry manure and planting patterns

The need for available space for individual plants grown in a community and good soil fertility management ensure high yield and quality of crop produce. A field experiment was carried out in the early planting season between May-September, 2015 at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training Stations (Ibadan and Ilora) Nigeria, to determine the effects of poultry manure and planting patterns on growth, yield components and dry matter accumulation of three maize varieties. Treatments included (i) 90 x 40 cm+ 0t/ha, (ii) 90 x 40 cm+ 5 t/ha,(iii) 90 x 40 cm+10 t/ha (iv) 75 x 50 cm + 0 t/ha (v) 75 x 50 cm + 5 t/ha (vi) 75 x 50 cm + 10 t/ha planting patterns- poultry manure combinations and three maize varieties (ART98-SW8, ART98-SW-1 and SUWAN-1-SR-Y) using randomized complete block design with three replications per treatment. From the result, the combination of 90 x 40 cm planting pattern with10 t/ha of poultry manure significantly increased growth, yield components and dry matter accumulation than other treatments, exceptfor plant height where the 70 x 50 planting pattern with 10 t/ha poultry had the tallest plants. The growth and grain yield of ART98-SW-performed better than the other maize varieties. Planting maize at 90 x 40cm spacing together with the application of 10 t/ha poultry manure enhanced grain yield of maize. Keywords; Dry matter accumulation, Maize grain yield, spacing, poultry manure, maize varietie