Effect of Organic Materials on Soil Bacteria Population and Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Evolution in an Ultisol

Osiriamhe; P. W.; Ene; D. U.

doi:10.56201/ijaes.vol.12.no8.2026.pg150.156

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Effect of Organic Materials on Soil Bacteria Population and Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Evolution in an Ultisol

Osiriamhe, P. W., and Ene, D. U.

Abstract

A screen-house incubation study was conducted at the Rivers State University Teaching and Research Farm, Port Harcourt, to evaluate the effect of four organic materials — cow dung, poultry droppings, pig dung, and dry grasses — on soil microbial population and carbon dioxide (CO2) evolution, using unamended soil as control. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design with five treatments replicated three times. Cow dung, poultry droppings, and pig dung were applied at 50 tons per hectare, while dry grass was applied at 30 tons per hectare. Soil microbial population was determined by the serial dilution and plate count technique at Week 1 and Week 3 of incubation, while CO2 evolution was measured weekly for four weeks using the alkali absorption method. Data were analysed by one-way Analysis of Variance, and treatment means were separated using the Tukay test at the 5% probability level. All four organic materials significantly increased soil microbial population relative to the control, with pig dung and poultry droppings producing the greatest stimulation by the third week of incubation. Contrary to expectation, the same organic materials significantly reduced CO2 evolution relative to the control throughout the four-week incubation period. The relationship between microbial population and CO2 evolution was negligible in the early stage of incubation and became significantly negative by the third week, indicating that microbial proliferation was not consistently accompanied by increased respiration at the application rates used. It is recommended that fresh animal manures be aged or briefly composted before application to coastal plain sand soils of the Niger Delta, and that future studies measure soil microbial biomass carbon directly to allow calculation of the metabolic quotient (qCO2).

Keywords

Organic materialsMicrobial populationCO2 evolutionSoil respirationBioaugmentationNiger Delta

References

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Effect of Organic Materials on Soil Bacteria Population and Carbon Dioxide (Co2) Evolution in an Ultisol

Abstract

Keywords

References

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