Abstract—Although the use of crop residues to enhance soil fertility has been suggested over the years, little is known about the nutrient composition of these residues as affected by specific nutrient management strategies. A study was conducted at the Soil Research Institute, Kwadaso, Ghana to examine the chemical properties of maize residues after application of different nutrient sources. The study was a field experiment arranged in a randomized complete block design. The treatments considered were application of poultry manure (PM), poultry manure + chemical fertilizer (PM + CF), chemical fertilizer (CF) and a control. Crop residues under CF application recorded the highest total N, P, K contents of 0.90%, 0.14%, and 1.19%, respectively. There were virtually no observable treatment effects on K, Ca and Mg contents of residues. The highest polyphenol (6.90%) and lignin (17.21%) contents were recorded under CF and PM + CF applications, respectively. The polyphenol: N ratios ranged from 7.7 in CF treated residues to 8.3 in residues on control plots. The study indicated that chemical fertilizer treated residues generally have higher nutrients composition and could have faster decomposition rate because of their lower polyphenol: N ratio than residues from all treated and untreated plots.

Index Terms—Crop residues, nutrient sources, polyphenol and soil fertility.

V. Logah, Lecturer, is with Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana.(e-mail: vlogah@yahoo.co.uk; vlogah.canr@knust.edu.gh.)

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Cite: V. Logah "Chemical Properties of Maize Residues under Application of Organic and Inorganic Nutrient Sources "Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 344-349, 2011.