Effect of organic and inorganic fertilizer treatments on <i>Moringa Oleifera</i> seedlings Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Effect of organic and inorganic fertilizer treatments on Moringa oleifera seedlings was carried out in Nasarawa State University Keffi, Faculty of Agriculture, Shabu-Lafia campus to evaluate the best fertilizer for Moringa oleifera production. The experiment was laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and consisted of five treatments which replicated three times each. The results of the experiment indicates that there were no significant differences in the number of leaves and leave area but there were significant differences in Plant height and collar diameter at (p>0.05) on Moringa oleifera seedlings under organic and inorganic fertilizer treatments. The results also showed that Poultry droppings (PD) recorded highest mean value 27.78±0.43cm of plant height which was greater than that of NPK 15:15:15 (27.41±0.24cm). The least mean 22.99±0.92cm was obtained for single super phosphate. For collar diameter4.53±0.25mm was observed as the highest mean value while 3.89±0.20mm of poultry dropping were recorded due to fertilizer application. On the number of leave (10.12±0.60) of NPK was obtained as the larger mean value while (8.42±0.57) was observed for single super phosphate. Leave area had mean value of 11.16±0.96cm² for poultry droppings as highest mean value while lowest mean value of 10.06±0.86cm² mean was recorded for single super phosphate. This work indicated that poultry droppings gave the best result at 25 gram level of application and therefore recommended for effect Moringa oleifera farming.