Performance of Nofosuo, an Organic Fertilizer, in Cabbage (Brassica Oleracea L.) Production in West Africa

Abstract

This study was carried out in the Northern region of Burkina Faso from 2019 to 2020 to evaluate the agro - economic performance of Nofosuo compost on cabbage yield. The study used a completely randomized Fisher block design to test seven treatments in three replications. The applied treatments were: i) T0 (control), ii) T1 (single Nofosuo compost), iii) T2 (Nofosuo compost + Organic Fertilizer (OF)), iv) T3 (Nofosuo compost + Mineral Fertilizer (MF)), v) T4 (Nofosuo compost + OF + MF), vi) T5 (single OF), vii) T6 (single MF). By this experiment, under Nofosuo compost (T1, T2, T3 and T4), the growth and yield parameters of cabbage were much improved. The study underscored the outperformance of Nofosuo compost combined with organo-mineral fertilizer regardless of the other treatments applied (T0, T5 and T6). T4 was 87.8%, 75% and 71.6% more improved than T0, T5 and T6 respectively. In addition, it was found that the single Nofosuo compost T1 was the most economically profitable as its value-tocost ratio (14.23) and return on investment (1707.14) were the highest compared to the others. This study would therefore help farmers to decide how to manage this organic fertilizer in their vegetable crop production.