Chicken manure is best for Napier grass — study

Chicken manure is the best organic fertilizer for the production of Napier grass, results of a three-year study of the PCC at MMSU (Philippine Carabao Center at the Mariano Marcos State University) showed.

The yield and nutrient content of Napier grass applied with chicken manure were comparable with those applied with inorganic fertilizer. The same was true with the return on investment.

Conducted by Rogelio T. Sair, Associate Prof. Roseminda R. Sair, PCC at MMSU director Grace Marjorie R. Recta and William A. Gudoy, the study compared the performance of Napier grass applied with chicken, swine and buffalo manures, and inorganic or chemical fertilizer.

Livestock manure contains a high level of nutrients and organic matter. Earlier studies have shown that about 70 to 80 percent of the nitrogen, 60 to 85 percent of the phosphate and 80 percent of the potash fed to animals are excreted in the manure.

In the PCC at MMSU study, the chicken manure applied to Napier grass contained 2.62 percent nitrogen, 2.8 percent phosphate and 2.82 percent potash. On the other hand, buffalo manure contained 0.96 percent nitrogen, 0.86 percent phosphate and 1.01 percent potash. In contrast, swine manure had 0.85 percent nitrogen, 3.37 percent phosphate and 0.62 percent potash.

Together with the nutrients, manure also supplies valuable organic matter that helps improve soil physical properties and increase the activity of soil microbes.

Would you believe, about half of the total feeds consumed by animals are turned into manure. Thus, recycling of animal manure as fertilizer for grasses not only increases their yield and improve the soil condition, but would also prevent environmental pollution.

In both dry and wet seasons, Napier grass applied with chicken manure produced the highest herbage yield every 45 days — 2.45 t/ha (tons a hectare‚ during the dry season and 9.7 t/ha during the wet season.

Yield during the wet season significantly increased because of the abundance of water.

In the third year, Napier grass fertilized with chicken manure produced higher yield than those applied with inorganic fertilizer. This indicates that more nutrients from the chicken manure have already become available to the plants during the third year.

At the end of the third year, the pH of the soil applied with chicken manure slightly decreased and its organic matter content increased.

Napier grass fertilized with chicken manure also produced the highest net income (P18,445) among the animal manures. Those applied with buffalo and swine manure produced only P2,268 and P334 a hectare, respectively. — Sosimo Ma. Pablico