ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF AMMONIUM SULPHATE PROCESSED FROM ANAEROBIC PASTEURIZATION DIGESTER LATRINES EFFLUENT ON SOIL pH AND YIELDS OF PEAS (Pisum sativum)

Abstract

Improper disposal of human waste is one of the developing world’s most serious health problems due to pollution of the environment. Food production is also dwindling due to soils’ nutrients loss to leaching caused by continued use of chemical fertilizers, which acidify soils. This study was aimed to assess the potential of using ammonium sulphate processed from anaerobic pasteurization digesters latrines (APDLS) effluent to stabilize soil pH and enhance yields of peas (Pisum sativum). The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with four treatments replicated four times. The treatments were Ammonium sulphate, Compost manure, Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and control. The growth attributes measured, were plant height, fresh weight, dry weight, seed diameter and chlorophyll content in leaves. The peas yield and soil data were statistically analyzed by Genstat version 14. The organic and inorganic fertilizers as well as the interaction between the fertilizer and time did not have significant effect on soil pH (p > 0.05). Application of ammonium sulphate improved dry weight (6.45g), number of seeds (40) and seed diameter (0.62), However the highest fresh weight was recorded in crops treated with DAP (11.70g)). DAP showed the greatest plant at the initial stage (9.8cm-42cm), while ammonium sulphate showed gradual increase in the plant height (8.9cm-41cm). Highest total chlorophyll was observed in peas treated with DAP(0.0184mg) and compost at vegetative stage(0.0167mg), which reversed at flowering stage with chlorophyll content in plants treated with ammonium sulphate being higher(0.0265mg) than compost. From this study it is possible to infer that ammonium sulphate extracted from digester effluent increase plants productivity comparable to DAP without any harmful effects in the soil and the environment as observed in the relative increase of soil Ph therefore recommendation is made for application of Ammonium sulphate in crop production.