APPLICATION OF MIXTURE EXPERIMENT IN THE OPTIMIZATION OF CABBAGE (BRASSICA OLERACEA L.) YIELD USING SELECTED ORGANIC MANURE.

Abstract

Several products in practice are usually a combination of two or more ingredients put together. The rationale for conducting this research was to determine the optimum yield of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.) as affected by four types of manures which include; Chicken Manure (CM), Pig Manure (PM), Goat Manure (GM) and used Tea Leaves Manure (TLM) coded as 𝑋1,𝑋2,𝑋3 and 𝑋4 respectively in this study. The main objective that led to this research to be conducted was to come up with the best organic fertilizer or the mixture proportion that will maximize the yields of the crop. Utilizing the right quantities of manure would ultimately lead to the small-scale farmers having optimal yields and hence fetching increased profits from their farms. In this research, the moment matrix obtained from the information matrix whose primary source was the designs points was used based on D-Determinant, A-Average variance, E- Eigen value and T- Trace optimality criteria to select appropriate mixture experiment designs, which are the Simplex-Lattice Designs and Simplex-Centroid Design. The {4,4} Simplex-Lattice Design was employed in this research due to its lowest rank value of 1.0 compared with others. The final average weight of the crop was analyzed using the R statistical package. A second-order regression model was plotted with intercept set to zero. Data exploration was done by use of contour plot. This was essential in establishing the recommended proportions of the manure in their pure or binary blends that offered operating conditions. Different combinations of manure were tested. The results were comparably different because the selected manures had different nutrient components in them. The study concluded that component 𝑋2 (Pig manure) stood out to be the best single-component manure that yielded maximally with an average weight of 2.93 Kg and 2.86 Kg in the overall model and reduced model respectively. For the binary blends, a combination of component 𝑋1 (Chicken manure) and component 𝑋2 (Pig manure) gave the highest final weight of the crop, 1.16 Kg, with 0.3 and 0.7 working conditions respectively. The proposed levels of manure are recommended to the farmers for optimal yields with lower cost. This would increase income and, in the end, this would help in eradicating poverty, which is a menace to the economic growth of our country