Abstract:
Yield decline in plantain cultivation is a common occurrence after few production cycles due to low levels of soil organic matter and increased susceptibility to biotic stress. The use of improved varieties is a cheap and eco-friendly option to combat plant diseases; however, sustaining the yield of a new cultivar in the farmers’ fields requires good soil fertility management which could be achieved through judicious use of poultry manure. The effects of three rates of decomposed poultry manure (0, 10 and 20 t.ha–1) on growth, black Sigatoka disease response and yield attributes of ‘PITA 24’ (a plantain hybrid) and its maternal grandparent ‘Mbi-Egome’ (a landrace plantain) were evaluated at Onne (Nigeria), at the high rainfall station of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. The experiment was laid-out as a split plot in a randomized complete block design. Except for leaf area and chlorophyll content, results showed that both clones had similar growth variables. Notwithstanding the susceptibility of the hybrid genotype to the airborne fungal leaf spot sigatoka disease, data on the components of yield showed that ‘PITA 24’ produced significantly (P< 0.05) higher values for number of hands and fingers per bunch, bunch yield and total biological yield, however, both genotypes had similar biomass distribution pattern. Manured plants had a significant (P< 0.05) yield improvement over the control plants; but, there was a yield decline at 20 t.ha–1 application rate. Increasing manure rates reduced days to harvest by over 30 days; similarly, plant stature, suckering, leaf chlorophyll content, index of non-spotted leaves, crop cycling and total biomass increased with increasing manure rate. It was apparent from our study that 10 t.ha–1 of poultry manure per annum supported the best yield attributes.
