Growth Response of Dennettia Tripetala (G. Baker) to different organic manure at the early stage (Published)
Early stage of plants is the major determinant of its growth and yield. This is directly linked to the nature of soil, nutrient availability and climatic conditions the plants were exposed to at its early stage. The experiment was conducted at the screen house of the Department of Forestry and Wildlife, Faculty of Agriculture, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State from February to August 2018. The study evaluated the growth response of Dennettia tripetala to different organic manure. Four treatments were used for the experiment and were replicated four times with four seedlings per replicate. The treatments were: T1 (Control; Top soil only), T2 (Mineralized cow dung), T3 (Mineralized pig dung) and T4 (Mineralized fish pond sediment). The experiment was laid in Completely Randomized Design. Parameters assessed includes: Seedling height (cm), Collar diameter (cm) and Number of leaves. Watering was done daily. Results showed that T4 had the best performance in seedling height, and number of leaves with a mean value of 8.966071cm and 3.01 respectively while T3 had the best performance in collar diameter with mean value of 0.226473cm. The least performance was recorded in T2 in number of leaves with mean value of 2.81 while T1 had the least performance in height with mean value of 8.366964cm. However, there were significant differences among the treatments at 5% level of probability in number of leaves and height and Duncan Multiple Range Test was used to separate significant means but collar diameter was not significant. Hence, Dennettia tripetala seedlings thrives excellently in fish pond sediments and should be adopted as the best media for the early establishment of the seedlings to increase its early growth and development.
Keywords: Early Growth, Organic Manure, dennettia tripetala, growth parameters., potting mixture, seedling
SEEDLING GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF KIGELIA AFRICANA (LAM.) BENTH. AS INFLUENCED BY DIFFERENT LIGHT INTENSITIES (Published)
Despite the high medicinal properties of Kigelia africana to most of the people of Nigeria and other nations of the world, it only exist as a protected and semi domesticated species This study investigated the effects of light intensities on the early growth performance of K. africana as an important step towards its domestication. Seedlings of K. africana were monitored under five light intensities namely; 60%, 45% and 30% light intensities, under tree canopy cover (5% light intensity) and control treatment was direct sunlight (100% light intensity). The experiment was laid in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Early growth rate of the species was significantly affected by different light intensities. Seedlings height and diameter ranged from 6.2–30.2 cm and 2–8.98 mm respectively (after 12 weeks) depending on light intensity. K. africana seedlings under direct sunlight did not perform well compared to the seedlings under low light conditions i.e. 30%, 45% and 60% light intensities, implying the seedlings need some shade for the establishment of early good growth while the species performed poorly under forest canopy, indicating that they may not do well under heavy shade. Thus, the species has the potential to survive when transplanted to the field
Keywords: Domestication, Early Growth, Kigelia Africana, Light Intensity, Multipurpose