Effects of growth media and water quantity on seedling growth and survival of <i>Rothmannia hispida (K. schum)</i>

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of growth medium and water quantity on seedling growth of Rothmannia hispida with a view of promoting its  conservation. The study was conducted at the Nursery of the Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management unit,  University of Port Harcourt. Seeds were collected from Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Edo State. Three hundred and sixty seeds were selected and sown into three growth media which were replicated three times before laying the experiment in a Completely Randomized Design. Fifteen healthy seedlings were selected and replicated three times. A total of one hundred and thirty five seedlings were used for the experiment. Three watering applications at (0.5 litres, 0.75 litres and 1.5 litres) were used. This was allowed to seep into the polypot at five drops per minute; the experiment was arranged in a 3x3 factorial design. Growth parameters were assessed to estimate the optimum water requirement at the nursery. Destructive sampling was carried out on all the seedlings for root length assessment. The results on the effects of growth media and water quantity were significant (α0.05) on height, number of leaves and root length, the highest mean value for watering volume was recorded as 0.75 litres (10.22±2.570) followed by 0.75 litre (3.267 ±1.52) and 1.5 litres had (7.431±2.313) respectively while the highest mean value for growth medium on  plant height, number of leaves and root length was recorded as mixture (10.15±2.342), mixture (3.275±1.156) and sawdust (7.938±2.112)  respectively. The assessment on collar diameter showed no significant difference (α0.05). The study shows that better growth parameters could be achieved using watering volume of 0.75 litres and mixtures of growth media.

Keywords: Growth media, water quantity, seedlings, poly pot, Rothmannia hispida