Performance of Celosia argentea (Lagos Spinach) as Influenced by Cow and Poultry Manures in Humid Rainforest Nigeria

Abstract

The yield of Celosia argentea grown by local farmers is considerably low due to lack of knowledge of fertilizer requirement of the plant and also the absence of deserved attention in research for increased yield. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) field experiment was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farms of Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Nigeria to evaluate the effects of cow dung and poultry manure on the growth and yield performance of C. argentea. The treatments replicated three times were cow dung and poultry manure, each applied at the rate of 10 tons/ha and control with no manure application. The analysis of variance showed that plot amended with cow dung significantly influenced plant height, stem girth at 2, 4 and 6 weeks after transplanting (WAP), number of leaves at 4 WAP which translated into relatively higher yield which was significantly higher compared to other treatments (p<0.05). Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that soil be amended with cow dung is good for C. argentea production due to its high nitrogen content for the production of the vegetable.

Keywords: fertilizer requirement, manure application, number of leaves, plant height, stems girth