*Wuese, S.T. and N. Adams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABSTRACT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This field experiment was conducted in the 2019 cropping season at the Teaching and Research Farm of the College of Agronomy, North Core of the Josephn Sarwuan Tarka University Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. The objective was to restore the productivity of a severely degraded soil using poultry manure for increased maize production in the study area. The experiment consisted of five (5) treatments (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 t\/ha) of poultry manure replicated three (3) times in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), with total area of 202.2m^{2<\/sup>. Soil samples were taken before the trial and analysed using standard analytical procedures and the soil analysis result was compared with the standard table for Soil Degradation Assessment of FAO (1979) to establish the status of degradation of the soil in the study site. After incorporation of the poultry manure, after harvest, samples were again taken and analysed to assess the effect of the manure in the soil restoration and on crop performance. Data was collected on number of leaves, plant height, stem girth, leaf area, dry matter yield and dry root weight. Results revealed that, the application of poultry manure improved soil characteristics such as soil pH, organic matter, nitogen, phosphorus, exchangeable cations, cation exchange capacity and base saturation. This was also reflected on the crop performance. 15 t\/ha poultry manure application gave the highest maize performance and soil improvement in the study area and is hereby recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n}