Abstract

The menace adverse effect caused by the use of chemical fertilizers in most developing nations cannot be overemphasized as they have negative impact on humans and soil. The present study was aimed at formulating organic fertilizers using poultry and goat manure. The fertilizer samples were developed by mixing from different proportions of poultry droppings and goat wastes. The produced fertilizer samples were characterized for properties such as bulk density, water holding capacity, pH, total organic matter, chemical and mineralogical compositions. The bulk density was between 420 and 655kg/m3. The water holding capacity is between 3.50 and 4.40 g water/g dry while the pH was from 7.4 to 7.7. The chemical analysis depicted the various amount of nitrogen (9.925-33.328%), phosphorous (0.416-2.912%) and potassium (1.103-1.905%) in the formulated samples. The presence of hydroxylapatite, chlorapatite and fluorapatite, hematite and quartz in the samples were confirmed from X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The results generally showed great potential of using poultry and goat manure in the development of organic fertilizer.

Key words: Nutrients, agriculture, proportion, pollution, animal waste, fertilizer.