Influence Of Nutrient Source On The Elemantal Composition Of Irrigated Garlic

The effect of five nutrient (fertilizer) sources on garlic (Allium sativum L.) grown under irrigation in Bauchi state was in vestigated. Irrigation was scheduled at 25% management allowable deficit, giving an irrigation interval of 4 days and gross application depth of 56 mm of water per application. The nutrient sources were NPK fertilizer (15:15:15), wood ash, poultry manure, and fermented cow dung slurry, while the control was zero fertilization. The composition of crop samples grown under application of the various fertilizers was assessed in the laboratory following recommended analytical procedures. Pungency level was taken as a measure of the bulb sulphur content. Results of the study indicate that NPK has the effect of significantly increasing (p  ≤ 0.01) the bulb moisturecontent and crude protein level of irrigated garlic, while causing significant reduction (p  ≤ 0.01) in the pungency of the crop relative to the control. The organic fertilizers (wood ash, poultry manure, and fermented slurry) yielded crops having relatively higher pungency with wood ash giving thehighest pungency strength. The mineral contents of the crops grown with organic fertilization were equally higher than those from the control and those grown with NPK. Furthermore, the crops produced with organic fertilizers had relatively lower moisture content. Results of this studydemonstrate that organic fertilizers would give better quality garlic with higher pungency than the widely used NPK fertilizer and no fertilizer application.