Assessment of Mineral and Vitamin Contents of Carrot (Daucus carota L.) as Influenced by Poultry Manure, Variety and Tillage

Abstract

An attempt to assess the mineral and vitamin contents of carrots led to a field (July-October, 2022) and laboratory studies conducted in the Department of Crop Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2022, using 2 × 2 × 3 factorial (replications = 3) each, for Randomized Complete Block Design and Completely Randomized Design respectively. The roots of two carrot varieties (Touchon Mega and Kurado) with three levels of poultry manure in t/ha (0, 5, and 10) harvested from two tillage systems (Ridge and Bed) were tested for mineral and vitamin contents using standard methods. Data were subjected to analysis of variance using GenStat 12.1 edition. Differences were significant at p < 0.05. Variety, manure, and tillage significantly (p > 0.05) did not influence the mineral and vitamin contents of the root. The vitamin C content of the roots increased with manure level increase. These mineral elements: Iron (209 g/kg), Potassium (6.6 mg/100g), Phosphorus (21.3 g/kg), and Zinc (23.6 mg/100g) were higher in Kurado than Touchon mega while Calcium (23.7 mg/100g), Copper (2.9 g/kg), magnesium (4.5 mg/100g) and Selenium (9.3 g/kg) were higher in Touchon mega. The 10 t/ha of poultry manure had higher Zinc (26.5 mg/100g) and phosphorus (23.7 g/kg), while 5 t/ha had a higher content of Calcium (24.9 mg/100g), Copper (3 g/kg), Magnesium (4.6%) and Potassium (6.8 mg/100g). The study revealed the presence of the considered minerals and vitamins in the carrot roots. Kurado accumulated some of the minerals and vitamins in quantity within the recommended human rates.