Nursery performance and early growth of two <i>Moringa oleifera</i> accessions grown under varied manure levels

Abstract

The study was conducted at the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management Nursery Site, Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, Nigeria to evaluate nursery performance and early growth of two Moringa oleifera accessions grown under varied manure levels. The treatments included two Moringa oleifera accessions (Katsina-Nigeria and Maradi-Niger), two manure types (Poultry and Small ruminant) and rate of application (0 t ha^-1, 4.27 t ha^-1, 8.53 t ha^-1 and 17.10 t ha^-1). These were laid out as 2 x 2 x 4 factorial in a randomized complete block design, replicated four times. The results obtained showed that seeds of Maradi-Niger accession had the highest cumulative emergence percentage (94%), mean daily emergence and number of emerged seedlings. Plant height, collar diameter and number of leaves were higher in Maradi-Niger accession than in Katsina-Nigeria accession. The dry matter yield showed that Maradi-Niger accession had the highest (3634 t ha^-1) than Katsina-Nigeria accession (3172 t ha^-1). In general, the application of 4.27 t ha^-1, 8.53 t ha^-1 and 17.10 t ha^-1 of poultry manure to the soil medium ensured consistent increase in the plant height, number of leaves and collar diameter. The control treatment (0 t ha^-1) had the least values of all the morphological characteristics. The 17.10 t ha^-1 poultry manure treatment gave significant increase (p<0.05) in the plant growth vigour. The application of 17.10 t ha^-1 poultry manure also gave the highest values of dry matter yield followed by 8.53 t ha^-1, 4.27 t ha^-1 and 0 t ha^-1, respectively.

Keywords: Soil pH, treatment, manure, plant height, collar diameter, number of leave