Influence of lime and farm yard manure

CHAPTER 3. MATERIAL AND METHODS

 

3.1. Experimental site

The experiment was conducted in ISAE farm in Busogo sector of MUSANZE District in Northern Province of Rwanda. ISAE is situated in volcanic region, on altitude of 2200m above sea level. The climatic conditions (Rainfall and temperature) during experimentation are shown in the table below:

Table : Rainfall and temperature during experimentation

Months	June	July	August	September	October
Rainfall in mm	117.90	62.00	72.60	134.30	167.20
Temperature in ^oC	14.20	14.30	14.80	15.20	14.90

Source: Meteorological station of ISAE (2008).

3.2. Materials

3.2.1. Test plant

The test plant is Carrot (Nantes cultivar). It is a popular crop that is grown in the sector and the variety is characteristically 10-20 cm long and has cylindrical to conical tuber with fine to medium foliage (Grabben et al, 2004). 

3.2.2. Farm yard manure and Lime

The farm yard manure used for soil amendment was obtained from ISAE farm. It is a mixture of animal solid wastes of different species reared at ISAE.

Table : Chemical composition of farm yard manure used

Organic carbon %	Total N %	Organic matter (%)	Extractable phosphorus (ppm)
58.67	0.57	9.97	58.3

The lime used is a slacked lime Ca (OH)₂ obtained by burning Calcium to obtain CaO; which is slacked using water to obtain the calcium hydroxide. 

3.3. Experimental design

The design of experiment was Randomized Block Design (RBD).It is composed of seven treatments each at four replicates .The size of the treatment is 2.1m X 1.2m and the treatment includes:

To= Control

T1=10t/ha of farm yard manure

T2=15t/ha of farm yard manure

T3=20t/ha of farm yard manure

T4=2t/ha of Lime

T5=2.5t/ha of Lime

T6=3t/ha of Lime

The layout of the plots on the field is shown below:

Erreur ! Source du renvoi introuvable.

Figure : Layout of plots on the field

3.4. Setting up of the experiment 

3.4.1 Tillage and application of manure and lime.

The cultural tillage practice was carried out one month before sowing so that the soil is rendered loose. 

Thereafter the plots were demarcated and lime was immediately incorporated into the plots to be treated with lime according to the randomization of the experiment. Manure was added to the required plots two weeks before sowing. 

3.4.2 Sowing

Sowing was done by spreading seeds in the furrow at 30cm spacing between rows. Each plot comprises 7 rows of sown seeds and the sowing rate was 7.56g/plot. Immediately after sowing, the plots were mulched. The mulch material remained on the plots for one week and was thereafter removed immediately after seed germination. 

3.5. Maintenance of the experiment

Weeding was done twice during the growing season. The first weeding was done one month after sowing while the second was carried out 46 days after sowing.

The weeding was done simultaneously with earthing up of the soil and thinning that resulted to approximately 5 cm between the plants in a row.