Recycling of organic residues in compost to improve coastal sandy soil properties and cabbage shoot yield in Benin

Recycling of municipal organic waste in compost is a potential approach to addressing waste disposal problems and soil fertility management. We studied during two years experiment whether composts of municipal organic waste improved with chicken dejection (MOW+Cdj), municipal organic waste improved with cottonseeds and chicken dejection (MOW+Cdj+Csd), and maize stover residues improved with chickendejection (MSR+Cdj) may be an alternative to chemical fertilizer to improve infertile littoral sandy soil and cabbage shoot yield. 20 t ha-1 of each type of compost were applied according to a completely randomized blocdesign with five replications. The C:N ratio of the composts ranged between 10.5 and 12.1 quite favourable for microbiological processes in the soil. The addition of cottonseeds to the compost has improved its physical and chemical properties. Soil available phosphorus, CEC and exchangeable cations were significantly (P (MSR+Cdj) > (MOW+Cdj) > Control. 6.42 tha-1 and 7.63 t/ha of cabbage shoot yield were obtained in 2002 and 2003 respectively with the compost MOW+Cdj+Csd which is significantly higher (