EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT NITROGEN SOURCES AND VARYING ORGANIC FERTILIZER RATES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MAIZE (Zea mays l.) IN EKITI

izer package, involving the use of organic and/or inorganic fertilizers (Tankou, 2004). However, the use of inorganic fertilizers in improving soil fertility has been reported to be ineffective due to certain limitations (Rodale, 1995). Some of these limitations include declined soil organic matter content, soil acidification as well as soil physical deg-radation, with resultant increased incidence of soil erosion (Avery, 1995). Consequent upon this, the use of organic manure has A two – year field experiment was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Ado- Ekiti, Nigeria, during the 2006 and 2007 cropping seasons to appraise the influence of different N – sources, organic fertilizer rates, and the interactions between these two factors on growth an