Abstract
Degradation is a serious problem affecting soil quality and crop yield. Integrated soil fertility management is an effective approach in improving soil productivity. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of animal manures and muriate of potash on selected soil properties, growth, and yield of cocoyam. An experiment was conducted at Akwa Ibom State University Teaching and Research Farm, Obio Akpa campus, Akwa Ibom state. Five fertilizer types namely goat manure, poultry manure, pig manure, rabbit manure and muriate of potash were laid out on a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results showed that application of different animal manures and muriate of potash significantly increased cocoyam growth parameters generally over control. Application of muriate of potash significantly increased cocoyam mean height. Effects of treatments on cocoyam height was in order muriate of potash > rabbit manure>poultry manure>goat manure>control > pig manure. Application of animal manures and muriate of potash also had significant effects on soil physical and chemical properties. From this research, application of animal manures and muriate of potash improved cocoyam growth and yield parameters. Therefore, muriate of potash at 300 kg/ha, rabbit and goat manure at 5t/ha are recommended for cocoyam cultivation in the study area.