ABSTRACT
Municipalities are facing a growing problem of how to safely
dispose off their wastes. Municipal
solid waste (MSW) is waste from households, commercial
centres, institutions (school, offices).
Composting is used to reduce huge pile of biodegradable MSW
and convert it into value added
product like manure and biogas. Inorganic fertilizer such as
NPK also exerts strong influence on
plant growth, development and yield. Two year experiments
were conducted in the Teaching and
Research Farm of Department of Crop Science, Faculty of
Agriculture, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka to determine the response of maize to MSW compost and
NPK fertilizer application. A 4 x 4
factorial experiment in Randomized Complete Block Design
(RCBD) with three replications was
used for the study.
The two factors were MSW (0, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 t/ha) and NPK
(20:10:10) (0, 100,
200 and 300 kg/ha). The following data were collected: leaf
area, Plant height, stem girth, number of
leaves, days to first tasseling, plant fresh weight, plant
dry weight, ear weight, ear height, ear
circumference, cob weight, 100 grain weight, grain yield and
harvest index. Data collected were
subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). The means were
separated using Fisher’s least
significant difference (F-LSD). Plant height, leaf area,
number of leaves and stem girth increased
with increase in NPK and MSW rates while days to tasselling
and silking was reduced. The 100
grain weight, grain yield per hectare and harvest index were
significantly increased with increase in
MSW and NPK rates. Proximate composition followed the same
trend apart from carbohydrate
content which decreased with increase in application rates
of MSW and NPK. Application of either
2000 kg/ha MSW or 300 kg/ha NPK gave the highest yield of
maize in 2011 and 2012.
Complementary application of MSW and NPK was significantly
higher than sole application.
Combination of 2.0 t/ha MSW with 300 kg/ha NPK had
significantly higher effect than other
treatment combination in both years and were found
satisfactory for achieving high yields in maize.
It is recommended that further research should be carried
out to determine the optimum rates
required for maize production since performance increased up
to the highest rates of MSW and NPK
fertilizer