Enhancing Nutrients Availability and Performance of Soybean Using Rumen Content Fortified with Termitomyces albuminosus in Soils

The research was conducted to improve nutrient availability using rumen content fortified with Termitomyces albuminosus and determine the response of Soybean crops to different rumen content fortification approach. The experiment took place in the greenhouse at the Centre for Dryland Agriculture, located at Bayero University in Kano. Rumen content was subjected to charring, and a portion was inoculated with the fungus Termitomyces albuminosus. The experiment included four treatment groups: charred rumen content (B), charred rumen content mixed with T. albuminosus (B+T), T. albuminosus (T), and a control. The treatments were set up following a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The results showed that there was no significant difference in Potassium and pH of the raw and charred rumen content. However, the result shows a significant difference in phosphorus content, iron, calcium, magnesium and carbon with a percentage concentration of 13.49%, 16.57%, 6.40%, 8.80% and 3.64% respectively in charred rumen content. The fortification of rumen content decreases the nitrogen content by relatively 12.5%. The effect of the amendments and fortifications tested on Soybean crop shows that application of fortified rumen content (B+T) influences growth and yield of the crop relative to the other treatments. Application of fortified rumen content (B+T) significantly increase soybean’s height soybean [increased soybean height] (47.73 cm). The unfortified rumen content positively affect the number of leaves of soybean (49.33). Biomass yield increased with application of fortified rumen content in soybean (2.6 t/ha). It is recommended that charred rumen content should be adopted as a higher soil amendment following the enrichment in nutrient composition after pyrolysis than raw rumen content. For efficient utilization of nutrient in the charred rumen content, fortification with fungi T. albuminosus under optimal growth condition is recommended for profitable soybean production.