Growth performance of selected Moringa oleifera seed origins in North Florida

Abstract

Moringa oleifera which is also known as horseradish or drumstick tree is a rapidly growing, drought-tolerant tree that can tolerate poor soil conditions. It is presently broadly cultivated and has turned out to be naturalized in numerous geographical areas of the tropics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth performance and survivability of Moringa seed origins in the North Florida region of the United States of America. Seedlings were prepared in the George Conoly Greenhouse at the Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL. The seed origins were Ghana, Texas PKM1, Haiti PKM1, Colombia, Nigeria, Jamaica, Nigeria Local, Impex PKM1, Peela Medu, India EOA PKM1, and Belton. A randomized completely block design (RCBD) was used in this study to compare the performance of eleven seed origins of M. oleifera Height and Stem diameter. Nigeria Local had the best performance in terms of height for 2018 and 2019 growing seasons, 191.98 ± 7.42 cm and 123.19 ± 26.67 cm, respectively. Colombia had the best performance in terms of stem diameter for the 2018 and 2019 growing seasons, 2.6 ± 0 cm and 2.08 ± 0 cm, respectively. However, DMRT revealed that the height and stem diameter of the seed origins were not significantly different (p ≤ 0.05). Therefore, the results revealed that the alternative hypotheses (Ha) that the Moringa oleifera seed origins were significantly different in heights and stem diameter were rejected.