Effect of Various Nutrient Sources on Seedling Growth of Annona Muricata Linn.

Abstract

The impact of nutrient sources cannot be over emphasised in plant growth. Seedlings of Annona muricata were subjected to organic fertilizers, inorganic fertilizers and fertilizer-free treatmentsin this study. The organic fertilizers comprises of cow dung, poultry manure and water hyacinth, while NPK fertilizer was used as the inorganic manure and Top soil without fertilizer application was used as the control. The organic fertilizers were singly used and mixed at the rate of 100kg/ha and 200kg/ha while the inorganic fertilizer was used at the rate 100kg/ha and 200kg/ha. The parameters taken were plant height, stem girth, leaf area and leaf production. Results obtained showed that poultry manure produced the tallest plants (23.50cm) at 3months after transplanting though this was not significantly different from those of cow dung manure (23.00cm). NPK fertilizer produced the plant with highest leaf area (32.75cm) and stem girth (2.25cm) at 3 months after transplanting and was not significantly different from the organic fertilizers (Poultry manure 200g/ha, Cow dung 200g/ha, Water hyacinth 100g/ha and 200g/ha). NPK fertilizer also produced the highest number of leaves at the end of the three month assessment (31.00cm). All the growth parameters observed showed that the control experiment gave the least performance. The results obtained tend to suggest that the use of NPK fertilizer should be recommended for growing Annona muricata and improvement of the soil nutrients level.