Growth and yield performance of Corchorus olitorious L. influenced by levels of poultry manure in Niger-Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

A field study was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of Delta State University, Asaba Campus in 2010 and in 2011 to investigate the effect of different levels of poultry manure on the growth and yield of Corchorus olitorious L. in Asaba, Nigeria. Seeds were sown at the rate of 15 × 30 cm achieving a population density of 222,222 plants/ha in a randomized completely block design, replicated 4 times. Poultry droppings were applied at the rate of 0, 10, 20 and 30 t/ha. Data were collected from net stands on plant height, stem girth, number of primary branches and number of leaves at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after planting (WAP). Harvest was done from 8 WAP by cutting method and weighed for total biomass and later oven dried at 80°C for 24 h for dry weight while 1000 seeds were weighed from each treatment. The result shows that the experimental site was poor in soil fertility. The plant height, girth, number of primary branches and leaves increased with age and application of poultry manure. The plant height (66.00±0.01 and 70.00±0.04), stem girth (4.40±0.02 and 4.60±0.05), number of leaves (50.82±0.02 and 56.10±0.04), fresh weight (21.90±0.05 and 23.62±0.10) and dry weight (5.10±0.02 and 5.49±0.05) were statistically similar at 20 and 30 t/ha while the number of primary branches and 1000 seed weight did not differ (P > 0.05) at application of poultry manure. This study hereby recommended that application of 20 t/ha of poultry manure may contribute to improve C. olitorious L. production.

Keywords: Plant height, stem girth, number of primary branches, number of leaves, dry yield, fresh yield, seed yield, poultry manure, Corchorus olitorious, soil fertilization

African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(19), pp. 2575-2580