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Growth Performance of Grain Amaranth under Different Nursery Soil Mixtures in Owerri, South Eastern Nigeria
Abstract
The growth performance of grain amaranth under different soil nursery media was studied in Owerri, South Eastern Nigeria. The experiment was a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment with five replications. The experiment was carried out at the teaching and research farm
of the department of Agricultural Science, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri. The treatment comprised soil nursery media of 0:3:3, 2:1:1, 1:2:3, 1:3:2, 3:2:1 and 2:3:1 in the order of poultry manure: top soil: river sand (sharp sand). Data was collected on seedling emergence, plant height per plant, leaf number per plant, leaf area per plant. Analysis of variance test (ANOVA) was conducted on all data collected (according to the procedure outlined by Steel and Torrie, 1980; Gomez and Gomez, 1985) using the ‘Genstat’software. Significant treatment means were separated by means of F–LSD as outlined by Obi, (2002).Results showed that there were significant differences among treatment means in terms of seedling emergence, plant height per plant and leaf area per
plant. Seedlings grown under treatment 3:2:1 significantly performed better than the other seedlings grown in other nursery media and is therefore recommended for the production of vigorous seedlings in Owerri, South Eastern Nigeria.
of the department of Agricultural Science, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri. The treatment comprised soil nursery media of 0:3:3, 2:1:1, 1:2:3, 1:3:2, 3:2:1 and 2:3:1 in the order of poultry manure: top soil: river sand (sharp sand). Data was collected on seedling emergence, plant height per plant, leaf number per plant, leaf area per plant. Analysis of variance test (ANOVA) was conducted on all data collected (according to the procedure outlined by Steel and Torrie, 1980; Gomez and Gomez, 1985) using the ‘Genstat’software. Significant treatment means were separated by means of F–LSD as outlined by Obi, (2002).Results showed that there were significant differences among treatment means in terms of seedling emergence, plant height per plant and leaf area per
plant. Seedlings grown under treatment 3:2:1 significantly performed better than the other seedlings grown in other nursery media and is therefore recommended for the production of vigorous seedlings in Owerri, South Eastern Nigeria.
