Effects of manure or effluent on biomass and protein yield of cassava foliage
The results of the experiment clearly showed the superiority of the biodigester effluent compared with the fresh manure for biomass yield and protein yield of the foliage of the whole (aerial) plant and the leaf and petiole fraction (Table 2 and Figure 1). The average total biomass (aerial part) yields per harvest (two harvests in 5 months growth) were: 8.68 and 7.18 tonnes/ha (SE ± 0.22; P=0.001) for effluent and manure, respectively. Comparable data for the leaf and petiole fraction were: 6.45 and 5.16 tonnes/ha (SE ± 0.15; P=0.001).
There were also significant differences for protein yields which were 0.429 and 0.338 tonnes/ha (SE ±0.012; P=0.001) for whole plant (effluent and manure, respectively) and 0.379 and 0.295 tonnes/ha for the leaf and petiole fraction (SE ± 0.012; P=0.001).