The study evaluated the effectiveness of NPK (15:15:15), poultry manure, cow dung and green manure of Tithonia diversifolia and Chromolaena odorata leaves on the growth of Moringa oleifera. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 11 treatments replicated 5 times. Data were collected for the growth parameters (height, number of leaves and stem diameter) of the M. oleifera seedlings. It was observed that Moringa seedlings grown on soil treated with 20g of T. diversifolia had significantly (P<0.05) higher plant growth parameters than those on soil with the other treatments including the control. Those treated with NPK had similar higher growth parameters comparable to those plants treated with 10g of T. diversifolia and both 10 and 20g of C. odorata. There were also significant differences in the quantities of the manure and NPK applied on the M. oleifera seedlings. This study shows the effectiveness of T. diversifolia and C. odorata as organic manure for improving and enhancing the growth of M. oleifera. Utilization of such weed species component as green manure, compost material or in improved fallow system will help the poor resource farmer to create more sustainable and productive crop yield.
Keywords: Agroforestry, Fertilizer, Green manure, Moringa oleifera, NPK
