Evaluation of agronomic characters of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn) as influenced by poultry manure in the Northern Guinea Savanna agroecology, Nigeria

A field experiment was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm, Taraba State College of Agriculture Jalingo in 2017 to evaluate the effect of poultry manure on agronomic parameters of finger millet. The treatments evaluated were poultry manure compost at 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 t/ha. The treatments were replicated three times and arranged in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The results obtained showed that finger millet responded positively to poultry manure treatment in all agronomic parameters evaluated with the best values obtained at 8 t poultry manure/ha. Finger millet plants in this treatment were tallest (45.20 cm), with highest number of tillers/plant (7.90), highest LAI (52.19), as well as lowest number of days to 50 % flowering (103.13), highest number of spikes/plant (18.09), longest spikes (4.65 cm) and highest grain yield (3.04 t/ha). This performance trend indicates that the best agronomic parameters could be obtained for finger millet by applying 8 t poultry manure/ha or more in the study area.

19 finger-like spikes that resemble a first when mature hence the name finger millet [1]. It is one of the most important staple food cereals in Sub-Sahara Africa and in many countries in South Asia [2]. The crop is considered to be Indigenous to the highland areas of Uganda and Ethiopia and is majorly produced and locally consumed by the resource-poor farming households (3).
Comparatively finger millet grains are considered nutritionally superior having contained more amounts of minerals such as calcium as well as essential amino acids than most other food grains [2]. The grain is readily digestible and serve as a staple food, weaning food, or a cash crop which provides income generating opportunities. The sprouted grains are used to make liquor and beer and the byproducts used for livestock feeding [4,5].
Though a minor millet compared with pearl millet, finger millet has potential for food security and economic growth in dryland areas where frequent crop failures and acute food shortages are phenomenal [6,7]. The crop is well adapted and performs better than other food cereals in agronomically marginal areas and the grains have excellent storage quality even under poor storage conditions [8].
Finger millet is an orphan crop and research work to provide the necessary agronomic information for enhanced productivity of the crop is still scanty. The crop is cultivated by peasant farmers in most parts of Africa including Nigeria and average yield of the crop remain as low as 1 t/ha which is below the potential compared with the yield of 5-6 t/ha obtained in other parts of the world like in Kenya and India [2,7,9] Soil degradation and soil moisture deficits are among the major determinants of declining agricultural productivity commonly encountered in dryland farming especially in intensive cultivation. Continuous cultivation and heavy application of synthetic fertilizers degrades the soil rapidly and is detrimental to soil health and soil productivity. This practice is not suitable for fragile soils or arid ecologies where finger millet is grown commercially. Adoption of low inputs sustainable farming systems such as organic farming can guarantee soil fertility GSJ: Volume 8, Issue 9, September 2020 ISSN 2320-9186 1138 GSJ© 2020 www.globalscientificjournal.com maintenance for enhanced crop yield under the zero inputs traditional cropping systems.
Organic agriculture prohibits the use of synthetic farm inputs and relies on practices such as application of organic manures, organic mulches, crop rotations, etc to manage soil fertility.
The appropriate quantity of organic manure to be applied for effectiveness depends on the nutrient content of the material, the soil fertility status and the nutrient requirement of the crop. Such investigations have not been carried out on finger millet in the study area.
Poultry manure is commonly used as a substitute for inorganic fertilizers which are scarce and expensive but information on poultry manure requirement of finger millet in the study area is still lacking and the objective of this trial was to bridge this research gap.

Material and Methods
The The land was cleared manually with machete, fine tilled manually and seedbeds of 2m x 3m (6.0 m 2 ) made with hand hoe. The plots were demarcated by 1.0m wide pathways and arranged in three blocks spaced 1.5m apart each containing five unit plots. The treatments were five poultry manure (pm) rates viz; 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 t/ha each replicated three times and laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD).
The seeds of finger millet sourced from farmers' seed banks in Jalingo were sown by drilling and later thinned to one plant per stand spaced 20 cm x 50 cm three weeks after sowing (WAS). The poultry manure sourced from the college poultry farm was well composted under shade for four weeks before being incorporated into the soil two weeks before planting.
Weeding was done manually at three and six weeks after planting using a hand hoe. Data collected on five randomly tagged plants used for sampling were plant height, number of GSJ: Volume 8, Issue 9, September 2020 ISSN 2320-9186 1139 GSJ© 2020 www.globalscientificjournal.com tillers, leaf area index, days to 50% flowering number of spikes, spike length and grain yield.
Leaf area index was determined at 8 WAS using the formula as reported by [11].
Growth and yield data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using statix 10.0 software and significant means were compared using Turkey's 1 degree of freedom test for nonadditivity (TDT).

Results and Discussion
The poultry manure analyzed showed that it contained adequate levels of nutrients and organic matter (Table 1) and their regular use on farm land improves and sustains the quality of soil in the long run. recorded in zero fertilizer plots.

CONCLUSION
Finger millet growth and grain yield indices were maximized at the highest fertilizer rate indicating that further yield improvement could still be obtained at rates higher than 8t pm/ha.
However farmers in Northern Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zone of Nigeria could adopt this fertilizer rate to maximize finger millet yield, while further trials using higher fertilizer rates are recommended to ascertain the best fertilizer rate for optimum performance of this crop.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
There is no conflict of interest whatsoever among the authors.