EFFECT OF MILLED GROUNDNUT SHELL AS A NUTRIENT SOURCE ON THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF PEPPER IN COMPARISON WITH OTHER NUTRIENT SOURCES

Abstract

Many nutrient sources have been introduced into agriculture such as poultry manure, cow dung, NPK, urea etc. in order to improve vegetable production. Groundnut shell which is known as an agricultural waste has not been explored to see if it could serve any use to the agriculture industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of milled groundnut shell as a nutrient source on the nutritional quality of pepper fruits, and the nutrient uptake by pepper plants in comparison with other nutrient sources. Five treatments were used in this experiment, namely: control, poultry manure, milled groundnut shell, milled groundnut shell in combination with poultry manure and NPK 15:15:15. Proximate analysis was carried out on the pepper fruits from each treatment to check the nutritional composition and tissue analysis was carried out on the pepper stems from each treatment to check the nutrient uptake by the plant. Post- planting soil analysis was also carried out to determine the nutrient residue in the soil. The results from each analysis was subject to data analysis using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) and the means separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test at 5% level of probability. The results from the proximate analysis showed that pepper fruits treated with Poultry manure had higher nutritional composition followed by pepper fruits treated with poultry manure + groundnut shell. The lowest was observed in fruit from NPK 15:15:15. The results from the tissue analysis showed that the pepper plants treated with poultry manure + groundnut shell had higher nutrient uptake while plants treated with NPK 15:15:15 had the lowest nutrient uptake. The results from the post-planting soil analysis showed that soils treated with milled groundnut shell had higher nutrient residue. While soils treated with NPK 15:15:15 had lower nutrient residue. From this study, it can be concluded that groundnut shell possesses nutritional qualities and it can be considered, as a nutrient source. It is recommended that further research work be conducted on the rate of application of milled groundnut shell as a nutrient source and possibly the addition of organic or inorganic nutrient supplements should be considered.