Abstract
Filter cake is one of the waste products from sugar mills; it is rarely used in maize production. Its potential as a soil amendment in maize production was investigated in the Middleveld ecological zone of Swaziland. Four levels of filter cake (0 kg ha-1; 10,000 kg ha-1; 20,000 kg ha-1; 40,000 kg ha-1) and 400 kg ha-1 of a compound fertilizer were studied using a randomized complete block design, replicated four times. Results showed that filter cake at 40,000 kg ha-1 significantly (P < 0.05) increased soil organic matter. Phosphorus level in 40,000 kg ha-1 of filter cake was 31.5 mg kg-1 greater than the commercial fertilizer treatment. There was a non-significant decrease in soil acidity (from pH 6.50, without filter cake, to 6.60 at 40,000 kg ha-1 filter cake). Except for Cu and B, other micronutrient concentrations showed significant (P < 0.05) increases with filter cake. Filter cake significantly (P < 0.05) increased maize yield from 3,731.8 kg ha-1 without filter cake, to 5,253.6 kg ha-1 with 40,000 kg ha-1 of filter cake. Yield with fertilizer (5,045.9 kg ha-1) was non-significantly lower (by 3.95%) than yield from the highest filter cake level. Application of filter cake at the rate of 40,000 kg ha-1 is recommended for maize. It is suggested that a long-term study be conducted to better understand the benefits of filter cake in relation to organic matter and mineral concentrations.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Filter cake at 40,000 kg ha-1 significantly increased soil organic matter.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Results showed that filter cake at 40,000 kg ha-1 significantly (P < 0.05) increased soil organic matter.”
t0“maize Zea mays l”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil phosphorus with 40,000 kg ha-1 filter cake exceeded the fertilizer treatment by 31.5 mg kg-1.
- Treatment
- 40,000 kg ha-1 of filter cakee0
- Outcome
- Phosphorus levele0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 31.5 mg kg-1e0
- Comparator
- commercial fertilizer treatmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Phosphorus level in 40,000 kg ha-1 of filter cake was 31.5 mg kg-1 greater than the commercial fertilizer treatment.”
t0“maize Zea mays l”
Claim · model-written summary
Filter cake produced a non-significant decrease in soil acidity.
- Treatment
- 40,000 kg ha-1 filter cakee0
- Outcome
- soil aciditye0
- Direction
- decreasee0
- Value
- 6.60e0
- Qualifier
- pH 6.50e0
- Comparator
- without filter cakee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“There was a non-significant decrease in soil acidity (from pH 6.50, without filter cake, to 6.60 at 40,000 kg ha-1 filter cake).”
t0“maize Zea mays l”
Claim · model-written summary
Micronutrient concentrations other than Cu and B significantly increased with filter cake.
- Treatment
- filter cakee0
- Outcome
- other micronutrient concentrationse0
- Direction
- increasese0
- Qualifier
- Except for Cu and Be0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Except for Cu and B, other micronutrient concentrations showed significant (P < 0.05) increases with filter cake.”
t0“maize Zea mays l”
Claim · model-written summary
Filter cake increased maize yield from 3,731.8 to 5,253.6 kg ha-1.
- Treatment
- 40,000 kg ha-1 of filter cakee0
- Outcome
- maize yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 5,253.6 kg ha-1e0
- Qualifier
- 3,731.8 kg ha-1e0
- Comparator
- without filter cakee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Filter cake significantly (P < 0.05) increased maize yield from 3,731.8 kg ha-1 without filter cake, to 5,253.6 kg ha-1 with 40,000 kg ha-1 of filter cake.”
t0“maize Zea mays l”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilizer yield was nonsignificantly 3.95% lower than yield at the highest filter cake level.
- Treatment
- fertilizere0
- Outcome
- Yielde0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Value
- 3.95%e0
- Qualifier
- 5,045.9 kg ha-1e0
- Comparator
- highest filter cake levele0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Yield with fertilizer (5,045.9 kg ha-1) was non-significantly lower (by 3.95%) than yield from the highest filter cake level.”
t0“maize Zea mays l”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend applying filter cake at 40,000 kg ha-1 to maize.
- Outcome
- Application of filter cake at the rate of 40,000 kg ha-1e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Application of filter cake at the rate of 40,000 kg ha-1 is recommended for maize.”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
422 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3,485 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
3,904 papers more in this group
See all 3,908 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.