ENHANCING HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY THROUGH EFFICIENT USE OF POULTRY MANURE IN SPRING ONION (ALLIUM FISTULOSUM L.) PRODUCTION ON SANDY SOIL

Spring onion is handy for potting as an easy-to-grow bulb vegetable; it is delicious, nutritious,
and important in many dishes. To meet the nutritional demands of small households, poultry
manure is utilised as a natural input, and sandy soil is low in metal toxicity. Hence, a two￾planting period pot experiment was conducted, using erosion-deposited soil for spring onion
production in Epe, Lagos State. The trial investigated the response of spring onion to different
levels of poultry manure- (PM) on sandy soil of the University Teaching and Research Farm
(simulated coastal soil), using 10 kg of soil per pot. Treatments (0 – 6 t/ha of PM application; at
5g, 10g, 15g, 20g, 30g, and No Fertiliser Application (0-NFA) per 10kg. The experiment was
arranged in a completely randomised design, replicated thrice. Data collected were: Plant height-
(PH), number of leaves/tiller-NL at bi-weekly After Sowing (WAS) Bulbs, Leaf-(Lw), and
Biomass weights (Bw) were taken at harvest. All data collected were analysed using Analysis of
Variance (p≤ 0.05). The nutrient content of the soil used was low and PM used was adequate
and supported onion production. The results showed that spring the onion plant height at 6WAS
of the first planting, ranged from 9.6±0.78cm to 14.5±0.78cm under NFA and 30g-PM
application, and at the second planting, it ranged from 12.3±1.08cm – 19.9±1.08cm under the
same fertiliser application. The lowest Bw yield (8.8±3.44g) was obtained under NAF, and the
highest (32.3±3.44g-PM) under 30g/10kg poultry manure application. At the second planting,
the fresh biomas’ yield increases with increase in PM level in this trend: 30g ≥ 20g ≥ 15g ≤
10g/10kg soil. It can be recommended that poultry manure application to sandy soil for spring
onion production should range from 30g/10kg of sandy soil under a pot experiment in an open
space.