The potential of Accelerated Compost as a fertilizer for maize production in the Forest – savannah transition zone of Nigeria BY O. E. AyanfeOluwa1 O. O. AdeOluwa2 and V.O. Aduramigba-Modupe3

1. The potential of Accelerated Compost as
a fertilizer for maize production in the
Forest – savannah transition zone of
Nigeria
BY
O. E. AyanfeOluwa1 O. O. AdeOluwa2 and V.O. Aduramigba-
Modupe3
1 Federal College of Agriculture, P.M.B 5029, Moor Plantation,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
2 Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
3 Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Moor Plantation,
Ibadan, Nigeria.

2. INTRODUCTION
• Organic Agriculture (OA) is a production system that sustains
the health of soils, ecosystems, biodiversity and people.
• Organic agriculture increased yields in Africa by over 100% and
has higher yields under conditions of climatic extremes (UNEP,
2008).
• A major limitation to adoption of organic crop production
practices (Alaoui, 2009).
• Composting period (Leslie, 2002).
• Accelerated compost and its significance (Rotor, 2008).

3. OBJECTIVES
• To evaluate the potential of Accelerated Compost as
a fertilizer for maize production in the Forest –
savannah transition zone
• To obtain the optimal rate of application of
Accelerated Compost as a fertilizer for maize
production in the Forest – savannah transition zone

4. MATERIALS AND METHODS
• The Experimental sites
• The Experimental Materials
• Experimental design (RCBD)
• Experimental unit preparation and treatment application
• Planting
• Cultural practices
• Data collection
• Data analysis: ANOVA and DMRT.

5. The treatments applied
1. Control (No soil additive)
2. Mineral Fertilizer (NPK 15:15:15) 60kgN/ha
3. Normal compost (Aleshinloye compost) 60kgN/ha
4. Accelerated compost 60kgN/ha
5. Accelerated compost 90kgN/ha
6. Accelerated compost 120kgN/ha
7. Accelerated compost 150kgN/ha
8. Accelerated compost 180kgN/ha

6. Table1. Proximate composition of the Composts used for
this study
Parameter
Accelerated
compost
Ordinary compost
(Alesinloye)
N (%) 1.09 1.2
P (%) 2.76 1.08
K (%) 0.38 1.75
Org Carbon (%) 42.09 23
Ca (%) 7 -
Na (%) 37.34 30
Mg (%) 0.53 0.07
Mn (mg / kg) 422.17 73.37
Fe (mg / kg) 1320.8 6053
Cu (mg / kg) 60.89 10.50
Zn (mg / kg) 145.89 1.50

7. Table 2: Pre-planting Soil physico-chemical Analysis
TREATMENTS Soil Test Value
pH (H20) 6.9
Org C (g / kg) 7.2
TN (g / kg) 0.4
Available P (mg / kg) 28
Exchangeable cations (cmol / kg)
Ca 22
Mg 0.4
K 0.5
Na 1.1
CEC (cmol / kg) 24
Particle Size (g / kg)
Sand 766
Silt 125
Clay 109
Textural Class Sandy loam

8. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

9. Table 3. Effects of the different levels of Accelerated compost on the growth
parameters of maize plants at 4 and 6 weeks after planting (WAP)
Treatments
Plant
height at
4 WAP
Plant
height at 6
WAP
Stem
girth at
4 WAP
Stem
girth at 6
WAP
No. of
leaves at
4 WAP
No. of
leaves at
6 WAP
Control 32.50 89.58c 8.68 15.53c 8.17 10.25
60 kg N /ha NPK 40.05 122.77ab 10.73 19.52b 8.56 11.11
60 kg N /ha Oc 40.43 109.38bc 11.34 19.07b 8.78 10.94
60 kg N / ha Ac 43.03 130.96ab 12.11 19.98ab 9.50 10.83
90 kg N / ha Ac 40.18 112.94bc 11.78 20.20ab 9.11 10.89
120 kg N / ha Ac 42.67 130.95ab 13.07 19.43b 9.22 10.56
150 kg N / ha Ac 37.55 117.74abc 10.71 20.01ab 8.61 11.22
180 kg N / ha Ac 42.84 143.81a 14.02 22.32a 9.44 11.39
ns ns ns ns
Means with same letter (s) in a column are not significantly different at 5% level of
probability by Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT)
Legend: NPK; NPK 15-15-15, Oc; ordinary compost, Ac; Accelerated compost.

10. Table 4. Effects of the different levels of Accelerated compost on
the yield parameters of maize
Treatments
Ave No.
cobs
/plant
Ave Ear
weight/plant
Ave cob
weight/plant
Ave. Dry
cob weight
(g/plant)
Control 1.00 155.77d 113.85d 63.58c
60 kg N /ha NPK 1.03 192.40abc 155.55a 92.12ab
60 kg N /ha Oc 1.12 173.84bcd 137.37bc 84.78ab
60 kg N / ha Ac 1.08 168.32cd 127.47cd 83.16ab
90 kg N / ha Ac 1.13 168.02cd 134.43c 81.79b
120 kg N / ha Ac 1.06 184.60abc 151.36ab 94.56ab
150 kg N / ha Ac 1.03 195.91ab 162.78a 94.31ab
180 kg N / ha Ac 1.02 202.12a 163.19a 99.85a
ns
Means with same letter (s) in a column are not significantly different at 5% level of
probability by Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT)
Legend: NPK; NPK 15-15-15, Oc; ordinary compost, Ac; Accelerated compost.

11. 5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
Fig 1. Effects of the different levels of Accelerated compost on the
grain yield of maize
Means with same letter (s) in a column are not significantly different at 5% level of
probability by Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT)
0.0
Control 60 kg N
/ha NPK
60 kg N
/ha OC
60 kg N /
ha AC
90 kg N /
ha AC
120 kg N /
ha AC
150 kg N /
ha AC
180 kg N /
ha AC
Fertilizer treatment
Grain yield (t / ha)
a
b b b
c
ab ab
ab

12. 3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Control 60 kg N
/ha NPK
60 kg N
/ha OC
60 kg N /
ha AC
90 kg N /
ha AC
120 kg N /
ha AC
150 kg N /
ha AC
180 kg N /
ha AC
Fertilizer treatments
Grain yield (t / ha)
Fig. 2. Residual effects of the different levels of accelerated compost on the
grain yield of maize in the residual planting of field trial
Bar is SEM
Legend: NPK; NPK 15-15-15, AC; Accelerated compost, OC; ordinary compost

13. Table 5. Cost-benefit analysis ($) of maize grain yield
($) produced by the different fertilizer treatments
Treatment Cost of
fertilizer
Total
cost
Maize grain = $500 / tonne
Revenue
generated
Benefit (Total
Revenue -
Total Cost
Control 0 950 2,176 1,225
60 kg N / ha NPK 300 1,325 2,911 1,588
60 kg N / ha OC 1,250 2,325 2,881 556
60 kg N / ha AC 3,125 4,200 2,877 -1,325
90 kg N / ha AC 4,688 5,781 2,663 -3,119
120 kg N / ha AC 6,250 7,356 3,237 -4,119
150 kg N / ha AC 7,813 8,938 2,946 -5,994
180 kg N / ha AC 9,375 10,513 3,658 -6,856

14. Conclusion and Recommendation
• The result of this investigation revealed that Accelerated
Compost (AC) compared favourably with ordinary Compost
and NPK at the same rate of N application (60kg N/ha).
• This shows that the shortness in duration to maturity of AC
does not place limitation on the fertilizer potential of the
compost, thus encouraging the accelerated composting
technology.
• The result of the cost benefit analysis however showed that
all the various accelerated compost (AC) treatments gave a
negative profit margin due to the high cost of purchase.
• It is therefore necessary to build farmers’ capacity in
producing compost on farm.