Abstract
An attempt to mitigate rapid soil fertility and productivity decline has led to the application of organic and inorganic fertilizers. However, the availability of inorganic fertilizers for crop production is a challenge to many farmers in developing countries. Thus, the use of organic fertilizers is becoming more popular among farmers in recent decades. In this study, a two-year field experiment was conducted to compare the efficacy of Jatropha seed cake (JSC), Tithonia (Tithonia diversifolia), compost, and the most common compound inorganic fertilizer in Nigeria – NPK. 15:15:15 on growth, yield, and some soil physico-chemical parameters and yield of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). The treatments were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design, with three replicates and were applied at the rates of 80 and 120 kg N ha−1. Two-way ANOVA was used to determine the effects of fertilizer, rate, and year on some soil macro and micronutrients. Structural equation model (SEM) was used to reveal the direct and indirect effects of fertilizer and rate of application on soil physicochemical properties and the performance of cucumber. The results showed that organic amendments (JSC and Compost) significantly increased the yield of cucumber, JSC improved the soil pH, available nitrogen (AN), and available phosphorus (AP), while Compost better improved organic carbon (OC) than the NPK. 15:15:15. The SEM showed that fertilizer had direct significant positive effects on the yield of cucumber, magnesium, and sodium and a direct significant effect on the yield of cucumber. Also, organic carbon had direct and significant effects on both available phosphorous and total nitrogen. Jatropha seed cake and compost proved to be better than mineral fertilizers NPK 15–15-15, thus proving these organic wastes as better alternatives to NPK fertilizer in producing cucumber.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Jatropha seed cake significantly increased cucumber yield.
- Taxon
- cucumber
Cucumis sativuse0 - Treatment
- JSCe0
- Outcome
- yield of cucumbere0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“organic amendments (JSC and Compost) significantly increased the yield of cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Compost significantly increased cucumber yield.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- Composte0
- Outcome
- yield of cucumbere0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“organic amendments (JSC and Compost) significantly increased the yield of cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Jatropha seed cake improved soil pH, available nitrogen, and available phosphorus.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust0
- Treatment
- JSCe0
- Outcome
- soil pH, available nitrogen (AN), and available phosphorus (AP)e0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“JSC improved the soil pH, available nitrogen (AN), and available phosphorus (AP)”
t0“Cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Compost improved organic carbon more than NPK fertilizer.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust0
- Treatment
- Composte0
- Outcome
- organic carbon (OC)e0
- Direction
- better improvede0
- Comparator
- NPK. 15:15:15e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compost better improved organic carbon (OC) than the NPK. 15:15:15”
t0“Cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilizer had a direct significant positive effect on cucumber yield.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- fertilizere0
- Outcome
- yield of cucumbere0
- Direction
- positivee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fertilizer had direct significant positive effects on the yield of cucumber, magnesium, and sodium”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilizer had a direct significant positive effect on magnesium.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust0
- Treatment
- fertilizere0
- Outcome
- magnesiume0
- Direction
- positivee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fertilizer had direct significant positive effects on the yield of cucumber, magnesium, and sodium”
t0“Cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilizer had a direct significant positive effect on sodium.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust0
- Treatment
- fertilizere0
- Outcome
- sodiume0
- Direction
- positivee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fertilizer had direct significant positive effects on the yield of cucumber, magnesium, and sodium”
t0“Cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Organic carbon had a direct significant effect on available phosphorus and total nitrogen.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust0
- Compound
- organic carbone0
- Outcome
- available phosphorous and total nitrogene0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“organic carbon had direct and significant effects on both available phosphorous and total nitrogen”
t0“Cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Jatropha seed cake was judged better than mineral NPK fertilizer for cucumber production.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- Jatropha seed cakee0
- Outcome
- better alternatives to NPK fertilizer in producing cucumbere0
- Comparator
- NPK 15–15-15e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Jatropha seed cake and compost proved to be better than mineral fertilizers NPK 15–15-15, thus proving these organic wastes as better alternatives to NPK fertilizer in producing cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Compost was judged better than mineral NPK fertilizer for cucumber production.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse0
- Treatment
- composte0
- Outcome
- better alternatives to NPK fertilizer in producing cucumbere0
- Comparator
- NPK 15–15-15e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Jatropha seed cake and compost proved to be better than mineral fertilizers NPK 15–15-15, thus proving these organic wastes as better alternatives to NPK fertilizer in producing cucumber”
The same questions in other papers
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- negative
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262 papers in the same direction as this paper · 19 in the opposite direction · 6 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- negative
- no effect
284 papers more in this group
See all 288 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.