GROWTH AND YIELD INDICES OF CASSAVA (MANIHOT UTILISSIMA) AND SOIL PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AS AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT TRADITIONAL TILLAGE PRACTICES IN A HUMID ENVIRONMENT

The experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of traditional tillagepractices namely No-till, Ridge-till and Mound-till, on cassava growth param-eters and soil physico-chemical properties. It was a factorial experiment in arandomised complete block design replicated 3-times. The factors were the 3-tillage methods and cassava plant as a test crop. Data collected on soil prop-erties include the particle size distribution, soil bulk density, soil water con-tent, hydraulic conductivity, soil pH, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, avail-able phosphorus and exchangeable bases, while data collected on plant growthand yield indices include; plant height, stem girth, number of leaves, number oftubers, tuber length and weight of tubers. The data were collected at 2, 4, 6, 8,10 and 12 months but cumulated at 12 months after planting. The data weresubjected to analysis of variance and relationship between cassava tuber yieldand some soil properties measured. Results of the study indicated that therewas no signiβicant difference between Ridge and Mound-till. The Ridge-till andMound-till systems signiβicantly inβluenced growth parameters and total yieldof cassava than No-till system, hence were recommended of increased yield ofcassava in the study area.