Abstract:
The study was conducted at the Soil Science Experimental area of the Benguet State
University, La Trinidad, Benguet from December 2015 to May 2016 to: (1) determine the nutrient
content of forest litter compost; (2) determine the effect of forest litter on the yield of potato;(3)
determine the rate of forest litter compost that is comparable to the farmers practice (chicken
dung); (4) determine the effect of forest litter compost on some physico-chemical soil properties
and; (5) determine the (Return on Cash Expense) ROCE of potato as affected by forest litter
compost.
The treatments were: a) Control (T1); b) 5 tons ha-1 chicken manure (T2); c) 5 tons ha-1
forest litter compost (T3) ; d) 10 tons ha-1 forest litter compost (T4) ; e) 15 tons ha-1 forest litter
compost (T5) ; f) 20 tons ha-1 forest litter compost (T6) ; g) 25tons ha-1 forest litter compost (T7) .
The forest litter compost was tested on potato production. The soil physical properties like
bulk density, porosity, and water holding capacity were all improved by the forest litter compost.
Likewise, some soil chemical properties like soil pH, OM, organic N, available P, exchangeable
K and CEC of the soil were all enhanced. The best rate of forest litter compost that is comparable to the 5 tons ha-1 CM in terms of
total yield of potato per 5m2 is 5 tons ha-1 of forest litter compost. However in terms of percentage
of ROCE 25 tons ha-1 forest litter compost is the only treatment that is comparable to the 5 tons
ha-1 CM.
