Reactions of cashew grafted seedlings to different formulas of mineral and organic fertilizers as bottom dressing in plantation

Abstract

The yield of raw cashew nuts in Benin remains relatively low, mainly because of the planting material used by farmers. Indeed, cashew tree producers use the nuts all-from previous years for the installation of plantations. The use of grafted seedlings is today an alternative, to improve the yield of new plantations. However, grafted plants are fragile and don’t survive easily the dry season of the year in which they are planted, with a high mortality rate due to their fragility. This research conducted on tropical ferruginous soils in Central Benin aims to evaluate the reaction of grafted cashew seedlings to different formulas of mineral and organic fertilizers applied as bottom fertilization. For the study, a Randomized Complete Block Design with three repetitions was installed. Each repetition consists of 11 treatments. The generalized linear model (glm) was used to perform the analysis of variance with SPSS v21 software which to compare the effects of the treatments. The organo-mineral formulas N40P80K72 + 2 kg of poultry droppings and N40P80 + 2 kg of poultry droppings applied as bottom manure allowed for better results in terms of recovery and growth parameters of grafted plants installed in the field. These fertilizer formulas allowed the grafted cashew plants to survive 85% and 80% respectively after installation. They also improved height growth, vigor and the ability to emit many leaves. To reduce the mortality rate of cashew transplants, these fertilizer formulas can be suggested to growers for the establishment of new plantations.