Short-Term Response of Soil Chemical Properties and Leaf Nutrient Composition of Fluted Pumpkin to Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer Mixtures on an Ultisol in Southeastern Nigeria

An investigation to evaluate the influence of sole organo-minerals and inorganic fertilizer and their mixtures on some selected soil chemical properties and leaf nutrient composition of fluted pumpkin (Telfairia Occidentalis Hook F), was carried out at Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, Ebonyi State in 2011. The treatments (control, 10 t/ha RHD, 10 t/ha RHA, 10 t/ha PD, 0.375 t/ha NPK, 5 t/ha RHA + 5 t/ha PD, 5 t/ha RHD + 0.188 t/ha NPK, 5 t/ha RHA + 5 t/ha PD, 5 t/ha RHA + 0.188 t/ha NPK), were build into a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Data were collected from both plant and soil parameters. Soil samples were collected before and at harvest from different plots for soil chemical analyses. The data collected were later subjected to statistical analysis using Genstat 3 7.2 Edition. Results obtained from this study showed that all the amended plots increased significantly (P < 0.05) the soil pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorous and exchangeable potassium over the control. However, the results equally revealed that treatments application did statistically improve the leaf nutrient compositions. Generally, the results indicated that the integration of amendments significantly performed better in most soil and plant nutrient parameters than the sole and control plots