Utilizing the Effect of Immobilised Aliphatic Amines as Organic Fertilizer through Soft Lignocellulosic Material for Controlling Striga Hermonthica in Maize (Zea Mays) Field

Abstract

Striga control in crops need a variety of chemical modifications approaches that are based on increased knowledge of the weed intricate morphology that lead to its fascinating parasitism. Increased dependence on inorganic fertilizers, herbicides and continuous tillage to maintain adequate weed control has not solve the problems owing to the fact that these practices decreases soil fertility, retention of nutrients, water andhas form complex chemical and physical changes in the soil. This work utilises methylamine and trimethylamine to maintain high nitrogen humus that increases the performance of cereal crops under striga infestation and lignocellulosic material of Tectona grandis as the soil conditioner.The moisture content and water absorption capacity shows characteristic functions for chemical modification as they increases with increasing particle size and time while ash content decrease with increase in size. The unoxidised, oxidised and immobilised sawdust were examined under FT-IR to know the extent of modifications. The result shows that all modification were effected to some extent were 0.02 and 0.04M KIO4were unable to oxidised the sawdust but was possible with higher concentrations of KIO4. The effect of immobilised bases were best at 0.05-1.0M methylamine and 1.0M trimethylamine on the sprouting maize while 0.05-1.5M of the amines shows gradual to complete absence of S. hermonthica. Understanding these basic mechanisms and timing of nutrient uptake in weeds and crops can lead to fertilization strategies, which will enhance the competitive ability of crops while reducing interference from weeds.